The Taixu Sect Master pondered for a moment, then said:
"This Ouyang Xuan is the most talented and powerful disciple of the Tai’a lineage in this generation, but his temperament seems not very good, and his nature is somewhat unyielding..."
He wanted Mo Hua to be mentally prepared to avoid any discord.
Mo Hua said: "Sect Master, don’t worry. I have a bad temper too, and I am also quite unyielding. We should get along fine."
Taixu Sect Master: "..."
"Really... no problem?" Taixu Sect Master said slowly.
"No problem," Mo Hua nodded, "I just like ’unyielding’ people."
The Taixu Sect Master remained silent for a long while before sighing: "Alright then..."
Thus, the matter was settled.
However, Mo Hua had not yet seen this "Ouyang Xuan" and therefore did not know his temperament and cultivation level, or whether he would cooperate well, making it difficult to make arrangements. This issue could only be considered later, after meeting him.
In the Disciple’s Residence, before Mo Hua were numerous atlases.
The atlases depicted various terrains such as mountains, rivers, swamps, steep ridges, ruins, caves, and so on.
All these were given to him by Senior Sister Murong.
These terrains might be encountered during the Sword Discussion Conference. .
Additionally, there were various tactical planning diagrams, Formation Diagrams, and Spiritual Artifact Casting Diagrams.
These were some tactical procedures he had simulated for actual combat.
Yet, despite all this preparation, Mo Hua still felt uneasy.
Discussing swords is different from discussing formations.
Formation is his area of expertise; regardless of the opponent, he wouldn’t feel apprehensive, especially when compared to sect disciples in the Qian Learning State Boundary.
However, when it comes to sword discussion, he had absolutely no actual combat experience.
Without actual combat, merely "observing" was not enough.
Moreover, even when observing, he had only watched one previous conference - and that was before the restructuring.
After the sect restructuring, both the rules and format of the sword discussions had changed.
At that time, Mo Hua was entirely focused on preparing for the Formation Competition, thus he did not attend in person.
He only heard about some changes but had never witnessed them personally.
Therefore, his plans lacked verification, and he had no confidence in their feasibility.
The Sword Discussion Conference had numerous participants, complex terrains, and changing structures, with many uncertainties.
Moreover, with so many gifted ones, even with him and Xiaoxiao, aiming for first place was like reaching for the stars.
"Things aren’t looking good, maybe... I should calculate?"
Mo Hua hesitated for a moment, took out a Copper Coin, and after a slight calculation, frowned deeply.
Heavenly secret Calculation, tracing "cause" to "effect."
Under the current situation, all his planning and preparations, along with favorable conditions, did not lead to the "effect" of winning first place in the sword discussion.
The distance between this cause and effect was vast.
This meant that winning first place in the sword discussion was a nearly impossible hope.
Mo Hua appeared thoughtful.
This was the indication of "Heavenly secret," a judgment of causality.
To outsiders, "Heavenly secret" might seem elusive and difficult to grasp.
But the more Mo Hua studied it, the more he realized that the essence of Heavenly secret lies in the accumulation of vast causality, and causality itself is the principle of all things.
However, due to the depth of Heavenly secret and the changing nature of causality, it often appears elusive.
But the internal threads can be discerned.
Only with enough objective "causes" can one eventually derive the desired "effect."
As someone who embodied "Heavenly secret Calculation," "Tricky Calculation," and "Back Origin Calculation," with exceptional Divine Thought, and who proved the Dao with Divine Sense, Mo Hua came close to a "Heavenly secret intuition" through continuous exposure to objective facts and the study of causality laws.
This was a kind of simple intuition.
But due to Mo Hua’s strong Divine Sense and deep understanding of Divine Thought, this intuition was more like an "innate" insight.
He didn’t even need to calculate or delve deeply into it, a slight contemplation would reveal that this path was unattainable.
He wanted to win first place in the Formation Competition.
But this "effect" seemed out of reach, floating in the sky.
Mo Hua sighed slightly.
"Still not working..."
"How exactly can I win first place in the Formation Competition?"
This question had troubled Mo Hua for days, even when eating or walking, he was pondering over it.
But the more he thought about it, the deeper he fell into a dead end.
His own strength was quite limited.
Although Xiaoxiao was strong, he was but one person.
The top prodigies of the Four Great Sects formed a whole group.
As long as one didn’t overestimate itself and looked at it objectively, it was clear that winning first place in the sword discussion was highly improbable for him.
Unless luck was truly exceptional.
But luck itself is elusive and cannot be relied upon.
Outside the Disciple’s Residence, in a small grove, Mo Hua was deep in thought about this issue as he walked down the path after class.
He didn’t even hear when someone greeted him.
"Junior Brother..."
"Junior Brother?"
Mo Hua was startled, coming back to reality to find Xie Ling calling him.
Xie Ling handed him a few Jade Slips, "Junior Brother, you mentioned before you were interested in cultivators’ ’tombs’ and yin residence formations, so I gathered some for you to check out."
"Oh..." Mo Hua responded absentmindedly.
After his journey to the Solitary Mountain City burial, he realized that tomb-related formations and their associated knowledge were gaps in his Tao cultivation experience.
Even though he had ventured into a tomb once, there were still many details he did not understand.
So, he sought out Xie Ling from the Gen State’s Qiongyin Realm, who had inherited family secret techniques in geomancy, to ask for advice and to help find resources.
The cultivation world is vast and boundless, with a cultivator’s lifespan limited, so their knowledge and experiences are also limited.