This evil embryo is a calamity, but it’s also precisely the opportunity for me to cultivate the Godslaying Sword!
Mo Hua was momentarily filled with a mix of emotions but maintained a composed demeanor, even appearing troubled, and said painfully:
"The backlash of this sword move was too severe. If I had known, I wouldn’t have used it..."
This remark naturally reached the evil baby within his life soul.
The evil baby merely sneered as if mocking Mo Hua’s recklessness and ignorance.
Self-slashing the life soul, do you think you can escape the Five Decay of Heaven and Man, obtain Dao through corpse disintegration?
Truly, ignorance is fearless...
It initially believed that Mo Hua would stop once he felt the pain, but it never expected that this kid was undeterred and started slashing himself with a sword every day thereafter.
Not much, just one sword.
This single sword naturally couldn’t kill it, but it seemed more like a form of urging and humiliation.
The evil baby was angry but had to endure silently.
It was waiting, waiting for Mo Hua to continue this reckless behavior. Once he went too far with the self-slashing, he would undoubtedly experience a Dao transformation and face a major tribulation.
That would be its opportunity...
The evil baby grinned, but before it could finish, Mo Hua reprimanded:
"Your expression is showing on my face. Don’t think I don’t know you’re sneering..."
The evil baby’s face turned as black as ink.
Following this, Mo Hua continued slashing himself with a sword once a day.
A few days later, it was the seventh day when Patriarch Dugu broke open the void, grabbed Mo Hua, and took him to the back mountain to impart swordsmanship.
After imparting it, Patriarch Dugu glanced at Mo Hua and, seeing his somewhat weary expression, frowned and said:
"You’ve injured your divine soul?"
Mo Hua certainly couldn’t admit, so he just shook his head and said: "Recently, I’ve been studying formations a lot, so my divine sense is excessively exhausted, making me a bit weary."
Patriarch Dugu was silent for a moment but didn’t suspect.
Mo Hua’s appearance could suggest either an injured divine soul or an excessively exhausted divine sense.
But generally, cultivators with wounded divine souls have vacant expressions, dull minds, a sea of consciousness often accompanied by sharp pain, symptoms much more severe than Mo Hua’s.
Although Mo Hua appeared somewhat weary, he was still quite spirited.
Patriarch Dugu didn’t pay much attention but made sure to remind, "Cultivation emphasizes ’Water Drops Stone Wear,’ so don’t exhaust yourself overly."
"Also, the sword marks on that bamboo scroll contain an ancient Tai Xu Gate sword intent, which is actually not something you can comprehend now, even if you can’t discern its secrets, don’t get discouraged."
"Just by frequently contemplating it and being imbued by this sword intent will greatly benefit you when you truly learn the ’Godslaying Sword’ in the future."
Mo Hua expressed sincerely, "Thank you, Ancestor, for your teachings!"
Patriarch Dugu nodded, "Go back."
"Yes," Mo Hua bowed respectfully, "Disciple takes leave."
Then he was sent back to the disciple’s residence by Patriarch Dugu.
Upon returning to the disciple residence, with some time before sunrise, Mo Hua seized the opportunity to immerse his divine sense into the sea of consciousness and practiced formation at the Taoist Stele.
After practicing formation, near dawn, Mo Hua finally withdrew from the sea of consciousness, took out the bamboo scroll, contemplated the sword form, and slashed himself with a sword.
This slash was very painful.
Mo Hua grinned through the pain, then mentally chanted, "The evil embryo hurts more than me, the evil embryo hurts more than me..."
Sure enough, the pain alleviated notably after a while.
But after slashing, Mo Hua suddenly recalled Patriarch Dugu’s guidance, especially regarding the ancient Tai Xu Sword intent on the bamboo scroll.
In his heart, he felt a slight sense of discord.
It seemed that the ancestor’s words were slightly conflicting with his own understanding.
But precisely where the conflict lay, Mo Hua couldn’t articulate.
A trace of concern emerged in Mo Hua’s mind:
"Could I be... learning it wrong again?"
Mo Hua pondered for a moment, thinking it impossible.
The Fireball Technique went awry because of his special divine sense.
The Transforming Sword Skill went wrong because of the lack of inheritance.
The Soul-Shocking Sword went amiss because no one taught it...
Now, Patriarch Dugu, sitting at the back mountain of the Tai Xu Gate and mastering the Divine Thought into Sword True Jue, had given him the Sword Dao Bamboo Scroll and taught him personally.
It was virtually impossible to learn it wrong again?
Mo Hua shook his head repeatedly.
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Besides, I was clearly cultivating according to the eight words "Refine the Mind with Sword, Self-slash Life Soul."
Not a single word was missing!
How could it be wrong? ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁
Mo Hua completely put aside his worries.
The sun rose, and bright sunlight entered the disciple’s residence, marking the start of a new day.
After "self-slashing a sword," invigorating and refreshing himself, Mo Hua revived his spirits and began a new cultivation.
He remembered Elder Master Xun’s instructions, disregarded other matters, focused on cultivation, and learning formations.
Yet during the days he was peacefully cultivating, the entire Qian Learning State Boundary was in turmoil.
In the Sect Leader Hall, the Tai’a Sect Leader and several elders were discussing.
"Sect Leader, the negotiations have failed..."
"The Four Great Sects are exerting pressure, and the Taoist Court officials refuse to relent. The matter of the Rouge Boat can’t be suppressed; even if we want to delay, it’s impossible..."
Another elder sighed: "Our intention is to ’cut meat to feed eagles,’ give up some sect interests in exchange for some timing."
"Those disciples who boarded the Rouge Boat and violated Taoist laws and sect rules are not unpunished but will be dealt with after this Dao Gathering."
"After all, the sect reform is imminent, and this first Dao Gathering is too significant."
An elder said: "It’s useless; this is obviously a setup, wiping out almost all the Heavenly Pride of our Tai’a Sect in it."
Immediately, Tai’a Sect Leader sneered: "What Heavenly Pride? So young, they don’t focus on cultivation but learn to visit brothels, doing all sorts of improper things, do they deserve to be called Heavenly Pride?"