Chapter 765 – Core Control
The Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Array was a Tier-Two Seventeen-Rune formation.
The Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Multi-Array, however, was a Tier-Two Eighteen-Rune composite formation.
Mo Hua's divine sense was currently stuck right at the peak of Seventeen Runes—just a hair away from Eighteen.
By all accounts, that sliver of a gap should have been enough to disqualify him.
Without Eighteen-Rune divine sense, one normally couldn't learn an Eighteen-Rune composite formation.
But Mo Hua was… a special case.
His divine sense had undergone qualitative transformation, his foundation was solid, and he practiced formation-drawing daily. After being refined through relentless repetition, his divine will was tempered like steel.
So now, on occasion, he could "punch slightly above his weight class" and grasp formations technically beyond his level.
And besides, the Primordial Magnetic Multi-Array here in the Myriad Demon Valley already had a foundation.
They had built it once—then destroyed it.
All he had to do was repair it based on the existing framework and adjust it to his own purposes.
The first issue: the array core.
Large formations and complex multi-arrays all rely on a central hub—the array core (阵枢).
It determines layout, structure, system design, and spiritual energy flow.
Controlling the array core = controlling the entire formation system.
"First… I need to find where the core is…"
Mo Hua examined the broken spirit-sight arrays, then reverse-deduced the energy flow using the pattern of the rune structure.
As the simulated energy pathways took shape in his mind, he traced them with his eyes across the stone walls—until he spotted a sealed point in one corner.
He extended a finger. A thread of spiritual ink formed under his divine will, slithering to the corner, where it wove itself into a Stone-Dissolving Array.
This was a Bagua "Gen"-based formation—designed to silently dissolve rock and stone.
The stone melted into powder, drifting away, revealing a hidden passageway.
This tunnel was originally dug to house the array core system of the Primordial Magnetic Multi-Array—spreading in all directions to monitor the entire prison of the Myriad Demon Valley.
When the formation was decommissioned, this passage was sealed up.
Ordinary cultivators who weren't formation masters—especially those unfamiliar with magnetic formations, architectural principles, and composite layouts—would never have found it.
But of course, Mo Hua wasn't just anybody.
He thought for a moment, then slipped inside.
The Myriad Demon Valley was huge.
So naturally, the formation built to monitor it had to be large as well—and the core tunnels were correspondingly spacious.
No way a big-boned demon cultivator could squeeze in.
But Mo Hua? He could.
Though he'd grown a little and was now a scrawny teen, his build was still frail and lean—perfect for wriggling through these formation-core shafts.
The tunnel was narrow, dim, musty, and full of dust.
After just a short crawl, Mo Hua was already filthy. Even his fair cheeks were smudged black.
Not that he cared.
After a bit, he pulled out paper and brush to record the layout of the array core's structure and route. He also began mentally simulating the structure of the formation surrounding the prison.
Then, following the simulated blueprint in his mind, he continued crawling forward.
Whenever he encountered a blocked path, he simply drew another Stone-Dissolving Array to clear it out bit by bit.
He crawled deeper and deeper...
Until, finally—after who knows how long—a spacious tunnel appeared ahead.
Large enough to stand upright.
The walls were engraved top to bottom with intricate Primordial Magnetic Runes.
This was clearly the central nexus for magnetic energy flow.
Mo Hua's spirit lifted.
"Found it."
The Array Core Control Chamber.
The heart of the Spirit-Sight Multi-Array—where all core components converged and were managed.
But the chamber was completely sealed off.
The stone wasn't just poured in—it had been reinforced with multiple layers of formations.
Mo Hua sighed.
"This is going to take a bit of work…"
Still, the formations weren't particularly difficult.
The stone could be dissolved layer by layer using his usual method.
It would just take time and patience.
And patience was something formation masters had in abundance.
Mo Hua pulled out his Great Void Token and sent another celestial-stem code "Dingmao (丁卯)" to Elder Xun. Once he got a reply, he calmed himself and began the process of unsealing.
In the pitch-black corridor, Mo Hua's face was calm, eyes bright with focus.
After about an hour and a half, the formation in front of him flickered, followed by flying debris—and the stone wall split open like paper.
Mo Hua covered his nose and mouth, coated in dust again.
When the air cleared, he opened his eyes to see a chamber full of formation patterns—unfamiliar, yet oddly familiar.
Unfamiliar—because he'd never been here before.
Familiar—because he'd seen this type of formation chamber layout before.
In the Bishan Demon Grotto, the "Master Yuan" who specialized in magnetic formations had a core control chamber almost exactly the same.
Clearly, this was made by the same hand—or at least, the same school.
At that moment, Mo Hua was nearly certain:
"This Myriad Demon Valley… is definitely one of the strongholds of the Evil God's forces."
But what puzzled him—
"Why would they go through the trouble of building an entire magnetic surveillance array… and then scrap the whole thing?"
He shook his head and jumped into the chamber.
The chamber was pitch dark, full of dust.
All the core components and formation arrays inside had long since been deactivated.
Even the outer door leading out of the chamber was thoroughly sealed—
as if someone had wanted to permanently bury the room and keep it hidden forever.
Mo Hua felt a little lucky.
If he'd tried to enter through the main entrance, he might've never made it.
Now, everything was ready.
The basic framework for the magnetic formation array had already been built by someone else.
All he had to do was reconstruct it piece by piece.
Mo Hua crushed a few spirit stones into powder, injected their pure spiritual energy into the array core, and gave it a little kickstart.
The array core flickered—then went dark again.
Mo Hua exhaled.
"Whew… still usable."
He sat down, thinking carefully.
This array core was massive—even larger than the one in the Bishan Grotto.
There was no way he could rebuild the whole thing under the noses of all the demon cultivators here.
So he had no choice—start small. Reconstruct one section at a time.
He pulled the diagram of the Spirit-Sight Multi-Array from his storage ring and reviewed it, then began activating the central control array core inside the chamber.
The central control hub was built atop a massive array disk.
Mo Hua injected spiritual energy and linked it to his divine sense.
After five or six attempts, the disk finally lit up with a flash of blue light.
Primordial magnetic energy began flowing once more.
"Central control array activated."
Then, Mo Hua hurried back out through the same tunnel, found a secluded spot, pulled out his tools, and began reconstructing a nearby Spirit-Sight Array, linking it to the central core.
Afterward, he crawled back and returned to the control chamber to fine-tune the settings.
After several rounds of adjustments, the array suddenly flickered—
a soft blue magnetic stream flowed through…
Mo Hua clearly felt the central control system—under his command—extend a "magnetic tendril," creeping outward through the network of runes until it connected with a remote terminal.
Then—the image formed.
Flickering currents of blue magnetism surged,
gradually forming a phantom-like projection.
Everything in the vision was bathed in blue light.
Only outlines—formed from magnetic signatures—could be seen: mountains, walls, the prison structures.
Occasionally, faint shadows passed through.
These were patrolling demon cultivators.
"It worked!"
A bright, radiant smile appeared on Mo Hua's dirt-smudged face.
This pale blue Primordial Magnetic View was similar to a divine sense view—it didn't show the external appearance of things, but instead revealed the internal states of various "Qi forces."
That included spiritual energy, demonic Qi, and even the ambient auras of all things under heaven and earth.
But unlike divine sense, which showed raw and chaotic fluctuations of energy in messy colors—
The Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Array reprocessed those energies into a magnetic projection, forming clean images and outlines.
Everything visible through the Spirit-Sight array was recreated as magnetic imprints—all in pale blue.
"As expected—only by actually setting up the formation can I truly understand its effects..."
Mo Hua thought to himself.
"Alright, that's the first one!"
Now, time to rebuild a few more spirit-sight nodes.
Step by step, he would gradually bring more and more areas of the Myriad Demon Prison under the surveillance of the magnetic array.
That way, even while sitting still, the array could act as his eyes—monitoring most of the demon cultivators' movements for him.
Estimating the time, Mo Hua sent another coded celestial-stem message to Elder Xun.
Then, he got to work restoring the second Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Array.
Then the third...
Time ticked by as Mo Hua crawled back and forth through the array core tunnels.
Right under the noses of demon cultivators, he was quietly restoring one abandoned Spirit-Sight Array after another—linking each one to the central hub.
This monitoring system, discarded by the demon faction, was being slowly repaired and repurposed for his own use.
It was a tedious process—but Mo Hua was having the time of his life.
Each time he activated a Spirit-Sight node, his vision expanded.
He could detect more enemies.
His grasp over the prison's layout grew ever more precise.
It was like playing a surveillance game.
The more he played, the more fun it became.
He was so engrossed, he even momentarily forgot he was deep in the blood-soaked, beast-ridden, demon-infested Myriad Demon Valley…
Until—he had restored over twenty Spirit-Sight Arrays.
Nearly half of the prison area was now under his control.
Only then did Mo Hua, reluctantly, stop.
Not because he wanted to—because he had to.
He was exhausted.
His divine sense was spent. His body was drained.
And worst of all—his spiritual energy was nearly depleted before his divine sense was.
While drawing arrays mainly consumed divine sense, it also used up spiritual energy.
But now that his divine sense was stronger and recovered faster, the arrays were more complex and numerous—
His spiritual energy was actually draining faster than his divine sense.
"I might be the first formation master ever to burn through spiritual energy faster than divine sense…"
Mo Hua grumbled to himself.
Then, he sent one final coded message to Elder Xun and said:
"Elder, I'm feeling a bit sleepy. I'm going to nap for three… no, four hours. I'll contact you after that."
Outside the Myriad Demon Valley—
Elder Xun Ziyou, staring anxiously at the blood-stained valley, had barely dared to blink.
When he saw Mo Hua's latest message, he couldn't help but mutter:
"This child… does he have no sense of danger?"
"That's the Myriad Demon Valley in there!"
"With your cultivation, your age, your current situation—and you're SLEEPING? How can you possibly sleep in there?!"
Elder Xun let out a long, helpless sigh.
"This ancestor doesn't worry… but I, the 'junior,' am panicking for him…"
Back in the Valley, Mo Hua had a solid, peaceful sleep.
Since he was stuck inside and couldn't track time, he wasn't able to sink into his sea of consciousness or train at the Dao Tablet.
But after waking up, he felt completely refreshed.
Divine sense, spiritual energy, stamina—all recovered.
Mo Hua checked over the multi-array system again, nodding with great satisfaction.
Even though he had rebuilt the array along an existing blueprint, he had learned a tremendous amount in the process.
Overall, a huge win.
With the Primordial Magnetic Multi-Array now partially restored, it was time to plan his next move.
"But… what exactly is the next step?"
Mo Hua suddenly froze.
He had plenty of things he wanted to do.
But given the current situation, most of them were unfeasible.
Some, he didn't yet have the strength for.
Others, he lacked key conditions for.
And some… he simply didn't know enough about the Myriad Demon Valley yet.
He pondered a moment and thought:
"Know thyself, know thy enemy—victory in a hundred battles."
"Better to observe for now. Let's see what these demon cultivators actually do all day. Then I'll decide what to do next."
He pulled out the Great Void Token and messaged Elder Xun again:
"Elder, I'm awake."
Then he took out some jerky and dried fruits from his storage bag and began munching.
Once full, he focused his mind, linked his divine sense to the Spirit-Sight core, and began monitoring the demon cultivators' movements.
Everything in the Spirit-Sight view was rendered in pale-blue magnetic signatures.
At first, Mo Hua found it hard to interpret.
But with practice, he slowly got the hang of it.
He now only needed a glance at any of the twenty-something magnetic arrays to understand what was happening, and where.
Like this, Mo Hua joyfully "spied" for the better part of a day…
Until—he noticed something unusual.
A demon cultivator.
In the magnetic view, his image was blurry and lacking facial details.
But Mo Hua could tell—he was tall.
And different from the rest.
Most demon cultivators were busy—
patrolling, guarding prisons, digging tunnels, feeding spirit beasts…
But this one?
He did nothing.
The way he carried himself, you could tell—he was management.
And more than that—his aura felt familiar.
Mo Hua guessed this was the same one who had cut off Little Wood and his companions' fingers—
the fierce, overbearing "Supervisor".
And in the region under Mo Hua's surveillance, he seemed to be the only one of his kind.
"The Supervisor…"
Mo Hua's thoughts stirred. Quietly, he locked his attention onto this supervisor-level demon cultivator.
He spent some time observing and deduced the supervisor's daily patrol route. Then, using that information, he upgraded the surrounding Primordial Magnetic Spirit-Sight Arrays accordingly.
Now, every move the supervisor made was firmly under his "surveillance."
However, the spirit-sight arrays only showed visuals—they had no audio.
So Mo Hua picked a corresponding array node within the sprawling network of control tunnels and waited there in advance, hoping he could eavesdrop.
But demon cultivators—those neither fully human nor fully beast—were an odd bunch.
They practiced demonic arts and constantly teetered on the brink of full demonization.
This included both voluntary and involuntary transformations.
Even their divine sense was constantly affected.
Their human nature, gradually corroded by their monstrous instincts.
The result? They didn't communicate like normal people.
Sometimes mid-conversation, they'd break into sinister laughter, drool uncontrollably, bite each other, or randomly go berserk.
This particular supervisor seemed to have a special status—and carried himself like he was above others.
He mostly barked out commands and didn't like explaining anything.
Mo Hua's eavesdropping gained him some info, but not much—nothing truly useful.
However, the longer he observed, the more a question nagged at him:
How did the supervisor even "supervise"?
These demon cultivators were mad and wild—
Obedient when calm, maybe…
But once they lost control and their demonic nature took over, they had almost no reason left—how could they be expected to follow orders?
Frankly, it was already amazing they weren't causing chaos left and right.
Mo Hua imagined himself as a demon cultivator—there's no way he'd let someone boss him around.
The moment his blood boiled, he'd kill and eat whatever got in his way.
If he died, he died.
"These demon cultivators—already beast-like and stripped of much humanity—still act so obedient? That's... suspicious."
"There's definitely something going on here…"
He stared at the supervisor demon cultivator again.
The secret was likely on this guy.
Since he was a supervisor, he must have some means of controlling the others.
Otherwise, who gave him the right to "supervise"?
Mo Hua watched patiently for much longer and soon noticed something more telling—
Even demon cultivators at the peak of Foundation Establishment, strong ones, were treating this supervisor with exaggerated caution.
That confirmed it:
There was definitely something strange about this guy.
Then finally, after nearly a full day of surveillance—Mo Hua saw it.
A demon cultivator lost control.
He had been patrolling when he suddenly spasmed and collapsed, twitching on the ground and emitting guttural howls.
Then—his body transformed.
He turned into a rabid "werewolf," with maddened eyes and a mouth dripping with poisonous pus.
This werewolf had strong demonic power.
The pus dripping from him was highly toxic.
He began mauling other demon cultivators, causing a wave of panic.
No one could restrain him.
At that moment, the supervisor arrived.
He took out a black banner, and upon channeling demonic energy into it, blood-red runes covered its surface.
At the same time, red markings began to glow all over the werewolf's body.
These markings spread like spiderwebs across his back, then sank into his flesh like red-hot brands.
The werewolf let out a pained, piercing scream—howling in agony as if his soul were being shredded.
His own demonic energy twisted into chains and locked him in place.
He collapsed to the ground, still twitching, claws digging trenches into the stone as he scratched and thrashed.
After a while, the demonic transformation receded, and he passed out cold.
The supervisor spat disdainfully and said coldly:
"He must've eaten too much demon meat again. The demon energy flooded his brain, lost control…"
A nearby demon cultivator added,
"No human meat to eat—this happens. If he could eat more human flesh to balance it out, maybe it wouldn't be so bad…"
"Human meat? I'd like some myself…" the supervisor sneered.
"Lock him up. Burn him with hot iron. Let him suffer a bit and wake up."
"Yes, Supervisor."
After giving the order, the supervisor turned and walked away with his hands behind his back.
The others dragged the berserk werewolf off to the prison for punishment.
Mo Hua, watching, froze slightly.
"The black banner…"
So this was how the hundreds of demon cultivators in Myriad Demon Valley were being controlled—
They were bound by that black demonic banner.
It forcibly suppressed them—preventing full loss of control, rebellion, or disobedience.
And when the supervisor activated the banner, Mo Hua clearly sensed a very familiar aura wrapped around it.
"The Four Symbols Formation!"
(四象陣法)
Not only that—
It was a higher-grade, more complete version of the Four Symbols Formation than what he had seen etched on the other demon cultivators.
He'd finally found it!
Mo Hua's heart lit up, eyes shining.
He murmured silently in his mind:
"I need to figure out a way… to get my hands on that demon banner. Study it…"
(End of Chapter)