Something extremely complex, ferocious, and chaotic?
What exactly was this thing?
Gu Changhuai's brows furrowed. "You're saying this is something that actually exists in this world?"
Mo Hua shook his head, lost in thought.
"It seems... to be something within my destiny."
He knew very clearly that his fate pattern was different from that of ordinary people.
Just now, he had vaguely sensed that deep within the Myriad Spider Ancient Forest, there seemed to be something "fierce and evil" that shared the same origin as him, stirring restlessly.
At the same time, something within his fate pattern had also been stirring incessantly.
It left his heart-spirit faintly unsettled.
Yet not long afterward, that fierce fluctuation gradually subsided.
The process itself had been unclear, but it seemed somewhat violent, accompanied by an unfamiliar divine aura.
Mo Hua wasn't certain what had happened, but he had a faint feeling that another "self" was about to be born.
Unfortunately, this feeling was extremely vague, with cause and effect tangled into a chaotic mess.
He wanted to calculate it, but for the moment, he didn't even know where to begin.
It was similar to how a doctor could not heal himself. A diviner could not divine his own fate.
After all, the things that had become familiar within one's destiny were precisely the easiest to overlook.
When one was immersed within one's own "destiny," it was impossible to objectively observe the direction of one's fate or the state of one's fate pattern.
This was only natural.
Those capable of seeing the destinies of others were already exceedingly rare.
Those capable of seeing their own destinies were rarer still, like phoenix feathers and qilin horns.
People were unable to see their own destinies.
That was the norm.
But this feeling was far from pleasant.
It gave Mo Hua the impression that his own fate pattern was something he could neither observe nor control. It was even somewhat "out of control" and "free-spirited."
A fate pattern should be related to cause, effect, and perhaps divine consciousness.
Yet the relationship between the three was intricately intertwined, complex and bewildering. Even Mo Hua himself found it difficult to make sense of it.
His divine consciousness was powerful, and his killing intent was fierce. Yet when it came to many of the secrets of the Divine Path, he understood the "what" but not the "why."
This was similar to the heavenly deities.
Although heavenly deities could wield divine abilities, they could not truly "comprehend" the principles behind those abilities.
Because divine abilities were a deity's "innate instinct."
Things that were innate were like breathing. Once something was taken for granted, it naturally became difficult to study.
Mo Hua was still human.
But after his divine consciousness had been transformed, after he had dispersed vast amounts of divine power and merged with an enormous amount of divine nature, he had become very much like a "deity"—powerful in an almost instinctive manner.
But in turn, he had inherited their shortcomings as well.
Deities could not achieve true self-awareness, self-examination, or self-consciousness.
There were countless exquisite Divine Path principles and methods of divine power manipulation that Mo Hua could not perceive clearly. Instinctively, they existed as a single whole within him, leaving him with no way to separate and examine them individually.
The existence of a fate pattern was similar.
Things that were innate were often the most difficult to become conscious of.
This definitely wouldn't do.
Especially now that his divine consciousness had grown powerful and his karma had reached a certain level.
Moreover, as time passed and the heavenly secrets underwent drastic changes, the various "heterodox elements" within his fate pattern had already been assimilating for a long time, producing certain mutations that even he himself had failed to notice.
Mo Hua could no longer clearly determine what state his fate pattern was currently in.
What had those cause-and-effect Dao marks accumulated from his past experiences hatched into while he wasn't paying attention?
At times like this, he needed to learn more profound and subtle Divine Path knowledge.
Perhaps, within it, he could find certain knowledge or methods worth referencing, something that might provide inspiration beyond the Divine Path itself.
Mo Hua's thoughts continued to churn.
He nodded slightly.
Gu Changhuai stood to the side, watching as Mo Hua spoke for a while before suddenly sinking into deep thought, becoming as motionless as a stone statue.
Whenever he thought, he could remain completely still for hours on end, occasionally muttering words that no one could understand.
Gu Changhuai sighed softly in his heart.
But he was already accustomed to this.
When Mo Hua had been at the Foundation Establishment stage, he had been like this as well, somewhat absent-minded.
Now that he had reached the Golden Core stage, his "symptoms" had naturally become even more severe.
Gu Changhuai didn't disturb him.
Only when Mo Hua's eyes flickered slightly, as though he had finally emerged from his focused state, did Gu Changhuai ask, "Figured it out?"
Mo Hua shook his head.
"Not yet. But I have some ideas."
Gu Changhuai didn't ask further. Instead, he turned to business.
"What do we do next?"
His gaze condensed slightly as he slowly asked, "Should we... go kill Venerable Green Face now and eliminate this future trouble?"
Although he wasn't entirely certain and had no concrete basis for his conclusion, his intuition almost allowed him to determine that Mo Hua must possess some means of tracking Venerable Green Face.
If Mo Hua couldn't catch up to him, he certainly wouldn't allow Venerable Green Face to escape.
This was Mo Hua.
Back when he had only been at the early Foundation Establishment stage, he had already stirred up trouble throughout the Qianxue Prefecture, killed Fire Buddha, slain Water Ghost, and crossed wits and blades with countless evil cultivators and demonic cultivators as the youngest senior brother of the Taixu Sect.
His mind was nearly demonic, his divine consciousness extraordinarily keen, and now he had reached the Golden Core realm.
Although Venerable Green Face was powerful, there was absolutely no way he could escape Mo Hua's tracking.
Gu Changhuai understood this very well.
Mo Hua pondered for a moment before asking, "Who exactly is this Venerable Green Face? Was he the one who caused the chaos in the Qingzhou realm?"
Gu Changhuai nodded slightly.
"According to the Dao Court's investigation, Venerable Green Face has been cultivating for more than two hundred years. His real name is unknown, his origins are unknown, and his nickname is Green-Faced Fiend."
"It's said that his innate bloodline was special, but his parents regarded him as a deformed child and abandoned him in the wilderness. He survived by eating rotten flesh and carrion. As a result, his nature became brutal, and he came to regard humans as 'food.'"
"Once his cultivation was complete, he occupied the mountains and forests as his lair, becoming a great scourge notorious throughout the Qingzhou realm."
"Now, the Qingzhou realm is suffering through a year of calamity, with the land itself becoming corrupted. Venerable Green Face took the opportunity to recruit followers, gather violent commoners, and descend from the mountains to plunder and cause trouble throughout the region, ultimately triggering the riot."
"He is indeed the chief culprit and the greatest perpetrator."
"But..."
Gu Changhuai's brows drew tightly together.
"Cultivators in the Great Spiritual Field realm do not cultivate easily. No one knows how Venerable Green Face actually reached the Golden Core stage, let alone how he managed to continue breaking through to the late Golden Core stage despite the scarcity of resources."
"Moreover, he's simply too difficult to kill."
"It seems that no matter how many times you kill him, you can't actually kill him..."
Gu Changhuai's expression was grave.
Mo Hua thought of the yellow-green silk threads within Venerable Green Face's body.
Those threads possessed both earth and wood auras and had the ability to repair flesh and blood.
His eyes flickered slightly.
Mo Hua asked again:
"I heard Venerable Green Face mention the title 'Master Wu.' Who is this Master Wu?"
Gu Changhuai pondered.
"I specifically investigated this 'Master Wu' before as well. He's a mysterious eccentric sorcerer in the Great Spiritual Field realm. His livelihood is unknown, and no one dares provoke him. As for those cultivators who have dealt with him, they all avoid mentioning him."
"Venerable Green Face seems to have a good personal relationship with him. Therefore, this riot appears to be inseparable from Master Wu."
"However, the Dao Court cannot ascertain his background and doesn't dare act rashly."
"Furthermore, Master Wu has been cultivating in seclusion for many years in the areas surrounding Qingzhou. His connections are intricate and complicated. Although we haven't been able to identify the forces associated with him, they seem to be quite extensive..."
Forces that couldn't be found were often the most extensive.
Mo Hua's heart stirred, and he immediately became interested.
He recalled how Master Wu had been tricked into speaking within the cause-and-effect realm, 'This old man inherited the legacy of the Southern Frontier, took Immortal Wu Gong as my master, cultivated the Myriad Poison Gu arts of the Unorthodox path, and took Lady Myriad Spiders as my divine patron.'
Immortal Wu Gong.
Since he was called Immortal, he must be a Feather Transformation realm cultivator.
A Feather Transformation Immortal...
And a deity named "Lady Myriad Spiders" as his divine patron.
Mo Hua also thought of that powerful divine aura he had sensed deep within the ancient forest just now.
This "Lady Myriad Spiders" seemed capable of suppressing the backlash of his fate pattern.
Her divine abilities were probably extraordinary.
And no one knew how many years she had existed.
To be honest, Mo Hua was quite eager to meet this "Lady Myriad Spiders."
It had been a long time since he had encountered an existence similar to a "deity."
Any deity would do.
Mo Hua wasn't picky.
But after pondering for a moment, he looked at Gu Changhuai's pale face and the other Dao Court cultivators, all of whom were covered in wounds with their heart-spirits exhausted.
Mo Hua sighed.
The Myriad Spider Ancient Forest was too deep. The paths were difficult to find, and it was filled with corpse qi and poisonous divine consciousness.
Moreover, there was this 'Lady Myriad Spiders' presiding over it, whose depths and divine abilities were completely unknown. So it shouldn't be entered rashly.
If something went wrong and another battle breaks out, he wasn't afraid. He could easily leave if things looked bad.
But Gu Changhuai and the others would likely have little chance of surviving. After all, they didn't understand the dangers of the Unorthodox at all. Everyone was injured as well. Entering the forest in that condition was no different from throwing their lives away.
The people he rescued shouldn't die again deep within the Myriad Spider Ancient Forest.
Not to mention, even setting Lady Myriad Spiders aside, neither Venerable Green Face nor Master Wu were simple.
Their cultivation is extremely high. One possesses a strange body that cannot be killed, while the other is a master of the Unorthodox, proficient in sinister and poisonous arts.
Now they've also encountered the backlash of Mo Hua's fate pattern. He didn't know whether they were dead or alive, nor did he know whether some unforeseen mutation would occur.
Rushing over there now would be too unstable.
Mo Hua shook his head.
"Even if we chase them now, we might not necessarily be able to kill Venerable Green Face. Instead, we'd risk alerting them."
"After all, we've caught the monk, and the temple can't run away."
"We'll meet again sooner or later. When that time comes, we can capture him whenever we please."
"For now, healing is the priority."
"Let's leave the Myriad Spider Ancient Forest first."
Gu Changhuai was somewhat unwilling, but he also knew that Mo Hua's judgment was probably correct.
All along, listening to Mo Hua had never been a mistake.
Gu Changhuai sighed and nodded.
"Alright. I'll follow you."
Mo Hua nodded as well.
Then he turned and gazed deep into the Myriad Spider Ancient Forest.
His clear gaze seemed to penetrate the ancient forest, reaching all the way to the deepest part of the Myriad Spider Daoist Temple.
Venerable Green Face's body contained Formation Patterns that were suspected to be Spiritual Pivot—a kind of array method he did not understand.
Master Wu was a master of the Unorthodox, proficient in the Dao and possessing a collection of strange Unorthodox arts he had never encountered before.
And then there was Lady Myriad Spiders, a mysterious existence possessing vast divine abilities.
She was also a deity Mo Hua had never encountered before.
He knew nothing of her alignment, faction, or divine abilities.
There were simply too many mysteries.
Far too many.
But the days ahead were long.
And he had plenty of time to remain in the Great Spiritual Field realm.
He could take his time and play with them.
Pull everything apart, thread by thread, and make it clear.
Mo Hua's profound gaze flickered.
A faint smile appeared at the corners of his lips.
Then he withdrew the sharpness from his eyes, turned around, and led Gu Changhuai and the group of Dao Court cultivators away.
Step by step, they passed through the maze and walked out of the Myriad Spider Ancient Forest.
At the same time, inside the Myriad Spider Daoist Temple.
It was as though a gloomy wind had blown through the temple.
Venerable Green Face, who had been cultivating, suddenly shuddered for no apparent reason.
Master Wu, who was lying on the ground, felt the same strange disturbance.
His eyelids twitched, and his eyes slowly opened.
But the moment they opened, Master Wu felt as though his eyelids had been sliced apart by knives.
He couldn't see anything.
At the same time, an intense pain erupted in his head, as though his brain were being squeezed.
And in places he couldn't see, although his flesh and blood were slowly recovering, the mutilated wounds still covered his limbs and bones.
His body looked as though a layer of skin had been peeled away.
It was gruesome and horrifying.
Master Wu was inexplicably terrified.
A gurgling sound came from his throat as he struggled to speak:
"I... what happened to me?"
"Why did I become like this?"
"Who harmed me?"
"Who tore off my skin?"
"Who gouged out my eyes?"
"Who drained my sea of consciousness?"
"Who?"
"Who!"
Venerable Green Face was startled at first.
Hearing Master Wu's frantic, incoherent cries, the terror he had felt earlier once again surfaced in his heart.
He was afraid that Master Wu had been "re-polluted" and would once again do something incomprehensibly terrifying.
But afterward, seeing that Master Wu's flesh and blood had completely recovered, even if his appearance was no longer remotely human, Venerable Green Face finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Master Wu at least seemed to have become a person again.
Venerable Green Face said, "Master Wu, calm down..."
Master Wu remained terrified. "Who? Who tore my skin apart?"
"My eyes... Who gouged out my eyes?"
Venerable Green Face said helplessly, "Master Wu, you tore your own skin."
"You gouged out your own eyes..."
Master Wu froze.
Then his expression turned furious. "Nonsense! How could I..."
He hadn't finished speaking when he suddenly recalled certain taboos of the Unorthodox.
Fear immediately surged through his heart.
"No... no..."
"What did I do?"
Venerable Green Face questioned, "You... don't remember?"
Master Wu stared blankly at him, "What do I remember?"
Suspicion arose in Venerable Green Face's heart.
His expression changed slightly.
"You... don't remember anything at all?"
"I... Forgot?" Master Wu was somewhat dazed.
He muttered to himself, "Forget... What did I forget?"
"I..."
Fragments of remaining memories gradually began to resurface within Master Wu's sea of consciousness.
A face appeared.
It was an extremely young face, somewhat simple and unadorned, flawless as white jade, with eyes as clear as still water.
The instant that face appeared within his sea of consciousness, Master Wu reacted as though he had seen a ghost.
He suddenly screamed, collapsed to the ground, covered his face, and frantically struck his own head.
"No—!"
"No!"
"Can't think!"
"Can't think about it!"
"Forget it!"
"Quickly—forget it all!"
Seeing the Unorthodox master Master Wu speak only a few normal words before suddenly turning into a madman, frantically beating his own head as though he wished to dig certain "memories" out of his brain, Venerable Green Face felt another chill creep into his heart.
He hurriedly grabbed Master Wu, afraid that he would actually smash his own head open.
"Master Wu, calm down!"
Master Wu continued to mutter:
"Can't think..."
"Can't remember..."
His entire body was drenched in cold sweat, mixed with blood, making his skin sticky and viscous.
It seemed that he had indeed forgotten something.
He was desperately forcing his own mind not to recall it, afraid that doing so would awaken those terrible memories and cause him to become "re-polluted."
As long as he didn't remember, there would be no fear. No pain.
Master Wu was like a "living puppet," standing blankly in place, his heart-mind utterly motionless.
Venerable Green Face didn't dare disturb him.
After who knew how long, the mad terror within Master Wu gradually subsided.
He finally calmed down.
His nearly depleted divine consciousness also began to recover bit by bit.
Although his body was still covered in wounds and looked miserable and horrifying, his aura was gradually returning to normal.
The madman who had lost all reason slowly transformed back into that sinister and seasoned master of the Unorthodox.
Seeing this, Venerable Green Face finally breathed a faint sigh of relief.
Once he saw that Master Wu had gradually returned to normal, he could no longer suppress the doubt in his heart.
He couldn't help but ask, "Master Wu, what exactly did you see?"
Those words once again dragged Master Wu's memories back toward those terrifying illusions.
The sea of consciousness he had only just stabilized almost twisted apart again.
Master Wu was furious in his heart.
He wanted nothing more than to strangle Venerable Green Face.
But sensing that his divine soul was becoming unsettled and that his reason was once again slipping away, he quickly recited a mental formula, suppressing his heart-spirit and refusing to let his thoughts wander.
Venerable Green Face immediately understood that he should not speak carelessly again.
After a long while, Master Wu finally returned to normal.
This time, it seemed he had truly escaped the madness and terror.
Even his face appeared strange, as though countless insects had crawled across it, filling in all his facial features and eyes completely.
His appearance remained horrifying.
Venerable Green Face still couldn't hold back.
But this time, he was much more cautious.
He asked timidly, "Master Wu... What on earth is going on? Why did you become like this..."
Master Wu slowly opened his eyes.
His eyes were completely bloodshot, his eyeballs ground into pulp.
His expression was solemn.
Thinking back on his various strange and terrifying encounters, his heart was filled with both doubt and fear.
After pondering for a moment, his voice came out dull and hoarse.
He could not conceal the terror within it.
"I'm afraid... a Star of Calamity passed over my fate..."