Chapter 790 – Run!
Inside the great prison, the demonic spirits had been nearly wiped out.
Mo Hua, now possessing Nineteen-Rune Divine Sense, had dazzling eyes, an even more refined divine will, and an increasingly powerful aura.
By now, nothing—no demon or spirit—could stand in his way.
He turned his head to face the ram-horned gate.
On the gate, layers of divine seals still barred the way.
These divine formation seals had once seemed formidable in Mo Hua's eyes.
But now, after devouring countless demonic spirits, breaking through the Heavenly Dao's "seal," and even digesting the laws within that seal, Mo Hua's understanding of divine formations had reached an entirely new depth.
As he looked again, he could vaguely perceive faint rules flowing between the runes of the divine formation on the gate.
However, the sealing laws engraved upon this door now appeared crude and riddled with flaws to him.
He raised his palm, conjuring a golden sword of divine thought—and slashed downward.
Though it looked like a simple strike, it contained insight into the law-flow of divine formations. Like a butcher dissecting a cow, it avoided the tough and struck the weak.
With a single cut, the blade pierced through the divine formation and stabbed directly into the gate.
Inside the gate, Mr. Tu's pupils shrank violently.
The demonic aura outside… was thinning.
The terrible being outside was still breaking the gate.
"All those demons... were actually slaughtered?!"
That vicious god… just how terrifying was it?
Even though Mr. Tu had anticipated something like this, it was still hard to believe.
What kind of vicious god could possess such dreadful strength—fearless of swarms of monsters, undaunted by divine power consumption—and exterminate thousands of demon spirits in such a short time?
Mr. Tu's face turned grim. He turned to a now-empty mural and breathed a faint sigh of relief.
"The Divine Bridge has been severed. The path to the Divine Homeland has been blocked."
"No matter how terrifying this vicious god is, it can go no further. It cannot lay a hand on the Lord God's homeland…"
He turned to the pale-faced "young master" beside him, his expression grave.
"Young Master, you must go—now!"
The young master tried to protest.
But suddenly—
Squelch—a sharp sound.
The ram-horned gate was pierced again. Several formation layers shattered as the tip of a golden sword emerged from the gate.
This sword, formed from divine thought, was simple and unadorned—
But it radiated terrifying divine killing intent.
Mr. Tu's expression changed drastically.
"Go! If you don't leave now, it'll be too late!"
"That vicious god—it's about to break in!"
The young master said, "But, sir, what about you—"
Mr. Tu replied, "I'll give up this remnant soul to cover your retreat. If I don't, neither of us will escape…"
As he spoke, more holes were stabbed through the ram-horned gate. Sword energy howled.
The divine formations on the gate were nearly gone.
Outside, the shadow of that vicious god loomed, becoming clearer with every second.
The young master gritted his teeth.
"Very well. I will trouble you, sir."
He immediately took out a shard of divine bone and sprinkled divine-blooded thought upon it. Using the resonance between illusion and reality, he began to exit the "Nightmare" of the Demon Refining Diagram.
His form slowly began to fade.
Outside the gate, the vicious god seemed to sense something. After a brief pause, it condensed even stronger sword qi from its divine thought and quickened its assault.
The horned carving on the gate was now scarred and fractured.
That once unbreakable divine seal was now like paper—leaking light and wind from every direction.
Within a few heartbeats, the divine gate shattered completely.
A figure, cloaked in radiant golden light, stepped forward—
"Not good!"
The young master's divine will had yet to fully escape.
The remaining soul of Mr. Tu suddenly rolled his eyes back. His pupils turned into two deep crimson pits, brimming with numbness and savagery.
A forbidden demonic technique!
He burned away his reason and amplified his wickedness to the extreme.
Horns sprouted from his head—black, foul, broken ram horns. The blood and flesh of his divine soul twisted, becoming grotesque and monstrous.
In moments, he had transformed into a Ram-Horn Demon.
At the same time, his demonic aura surged to its peak.
Without waiting for Mo Hua to enter, the now-transformed Mr. Tu charged at him with a blast of foul wind and overwhelming evil will.
But before he could reach, his body suddenly froze.
Moments later—a golden glow flashed on his forehead.
A golden sword pierced directly through it. Sword qi then erupted outward, slicing his body into chunks of mangled meat.
"Truly… a vicious god…"
"Even with this remnant soul, I couldn't resist in the slightest."
"The way of the gods—so vast, so unfathomable…"
His features, shredded by sword qi, began to fade.
The black in his eyes dimmed. The madness ebbed. Reason briefly returned in his final flicker of consciousness.
With all the strength he had left, Mr. Tu looked toward the "vicious god."
He wanted to see its face.
He wanted to see what kind of being could be the enemy of the Divine Lord.
But his vision was stained with blood, and all he saw was gold.
He never saw the face of the god who pierced his skull with one strike.
All he glimpsed was—amid that golden light and blood haze—a small figure.
And a pair of cold, commanding eyes.
This was a young vicious god.
It looked as if it had only recently hatched from its divine embryo.
Yet in those eyes… was already the majesty of the divine.
A detached indifference toward all living things—and something even deeper…
Faintly, Mr. Tu saw within those eyes, strange interwoven patterns of black and white, shifting like yin and yang.
"To die by the hand of a god…"
"To die by the hand of the Divine Lord's greatest enemy…"
"To die for the sake of the Divine Lord's grand mission…"
"Then this remnant soul… dies without regret…"
With those last thoughts, Mr. Tu's soul was shredded by golden light and completely annihilated.
—
Elsewhere, the young master's form continued to fade. Just before he fully escaped the nightmare and his divine thought dissipated—
He saw it too.
The being who had slain Mr. Tu with one sword.
Bathed in golden radiance, shaped like a child, yet radiating the majesty of a god, and a terrifying, inhuman coldness.
It made him feel utterly small.
Even… instinctively afraid.
He only dared to look once—just once—before hurriedly using the final moment bought with Mr. Tu's life to escape the Nightmare.
He feared that if he looked a second time… He would die at the hands of that terrifying god.
...
Inside the Main Hall of the Ten Thousand Demon Valley.
The young master, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide. His hands trembled uncontrollably as he gasped for breath.
His back was already drenched in cold sweat.
It was as if he had just awakened from a nightmare.
Yet his eyes were filled with ice-cold hatred.
"This is the first time in my life… I've been this humiliated…"
He etched the image of that small divine figure firmly into his memory, his gaze turning frosty:
"Such humiliation—I will never forget it…"
—
At the very moment the remnant soul was extinguished, within the borders of Qianxue Prefecture, inside the Heavenly Dao Sect, an elder who had been teaching disciples suddenly turned pale, a splitting headache assaulting him.
It felt as if a strand of his soul had been ripped away from his body.
His facial features twisted slightly, and he nearly lost his ability to maintain his form.
"Elder Shen" quickly raised his sleeve to cover his face, hunching over as he coughed uncontrollably, nearly coughing up blood.
The disciples beneath him were stunned, looking at each other in confusion.
One disciple stepped forward with concern:
"Elder, are you alright?"
"Elder Shen" coughed a few more times, secretly smoothing out the human-skin mask on his face before slowly lifting his head.
His face was deathly pale—ghastly pale—like the skin of a corpse.
He looked utterly haggard.
The disciples below were startled and uneasy just looking at him.
"Elder, you…"
Elder Shen quickly composed himself, his tone tinged with bitterness as he sighed and said:
"Recently I obtained an ancient scroll on formations. It was profound and obscure… I studied it without rest, yet could not comprehend it. Before I realized it, my divine sense became overtaxed and I injured my essence."
After speaking, Elder Shen glanced over the group of students, and added earnestly:
"…You must take this as a warning. When studying formations, you must know your limits. If your divine sense is insufficient, do not force comprehension. Do not be impatient—cultivate step by step, steadily and methodically…"
"If you're greedy for progress, you'll end up like me…"
He coughed again. His face looked even paler.
"…With your divine sense depleted, your foundation will be damaged."
The disciples were filled with solemnity, bowing their heads respectfully:
"Thank you for the guidance, Elder. We will remember your words."
Elder Shen nodded with satisfaction.
"Good. Let's continue the lesson…"
"Yes, Elder."
He opened the scroll, comparing it with the array diagram on the formation disk, resuming the lecture as if nothing had happened. His demeanor gradually returned to normal.
But inside… he was far from calm.
"My remnant soul… was actually destroyed?"
"What exactly happened inside the Ten Thousand Demon Valley?"
"Who—who erased my soul?!"
Elder Shen's pupils constricted slightly as a chill rose in his heart.
—
Within the Demon Refining Diagram.
Mo Hua, his body aglow with brilliant golden light, had just obliterated a blood-colored demonic figure with lightning speed. When he turned to look at the other figure—it was too late.
All he caught was a fleeting glimpse of a noble, elegant young master.
But before he could see the young man's face clearly, the figure grew hazy and vanished without a trace.
"What a pity…"
Mo Hua sighed softly.
That blood-red demon had charged at him with overwhelming aggression.
Caught off guard, Mo Hua hadn't held back—his sword pierced through its head, destroying it in one strike. No survivors. No clues.
Thinking back, that had probably been the so-called "Mr. Tu."
As for the "young master," he had escaped—Mo Hua hadn't even gotten a proper look at him.
"Such a meticulously executed plan, so secretive… It really won't be easy to track them."
He shook his head with regret.
"Well… let them go. I'm sure I'll have another chance in the future…"
Mo Hua calmed his thoughts, turned around, and looked around the hall. It was empty, nothing suspicious stood out—yet he felt a lingering doubt.
"Just what were Mr. Tu and that young master doing, hiding behind this ram-horned gate?"
The level of secrecy—willing to die for it—meant it had to be something big.
Something important enough to be worth death.
Mo Hua frowned slightly and gave the hall another once-over. Suddenly—
"Huh?"
He spotted a small blank mural.
Unlike the intricate paintings elsewhere in the Demon Refining Diagram, this one was only as tall as a man. Its surface was smooth and completely empty.
Mo Hua nearly mistook it for an ordinary stone wall.
Releasing his divine sense, he examined it carefully—and his heart trembled.
"There's a… very special aura here…"
Peaceful. Serene. Rich. Sweet…
It felt like something close to the origin of divinity, making the divine spark within Mo Hua's spiritual consciousness stir with longing.
"What is this?"
So that's why Mr. Tu and the young master had been hiding here, sneaking around—
Was it to erase traces of whatever had been here?
To keep others—or perhaps him—from discovering it?
Mo Hua couldn't make sense of it… but his curiosity grew stronger.
He really wanted to know: what had once been depicted on this now-blank mural, that could leave behind such a rich, sweet, divine aura?
Mo Hua combed through every inch of the mural.
He even swept the entire hall with his divine sense, searching every detail.
Still—nothing.
"They really cleaned it up…"
Shaking his head, Mo Hua realized he had no more clues to go on and sighed inwardly.
"Forget it. It's getting late. I'll head back for now."
"I'll definitely be dealing with the Great Wilderness Evil God again eventually. When that time comes, I'll unravel this mystery step by step."
"Besides, I ate way too many demons today. If I don't get back and meditate soon, my mind will be a mess, and my Dao heart will be in trouble…"
He gave a small nod.
Faint traces of demonic intent still lingered in the air—the remnants of Mr. Tu's soul.
Mo Hua wrinkled his nose. He had no desire to "consume" such filth.
Instead, he formed a few more threads of sword qi and swept the place clean, destroying every last wisp of residual demonic will before turning to leave the hall.
Outside, Mo Hua found the bone sword hiding in a corner, pretending to be invisible.
Ever since the demon outbreak began, this sword spirit had been curled up, playing dead.
Of course, Mo Hua had never expected it to help.
With all the demon spirits rampaging, it was lucky the sword spirit had even survived.
"Let's go back," Mo Hua said.
"Y-Yes…" the sword-spirit quickly nodded, its bony waist bending even lower.
Having just witnessed the endless tide of demon spirits in the Great Prison utterly suppressed—no, devoured—by Mo Hua, the sword-spirit dared not make a sound, let alone look him in the eye.
Ever since it had become a Sword Demon, it had never encountered a true deity.
But now, it figured… so-called "gods" might just be on this level.
And the thought that this little ancestor's divine sense was strong enough to rival such beings made the sword-spirit instinctively bow even lower.
And so, on the way back, it was a small, proud Mo Hua walking tall, and a towering Sword Demon groveling in his shadow.
One man, one demon, retraced their path and exited the Demon Refining Diagram, returning once more to the blood pool that was the sword-spirit's domain.
Inside the pool, Linghu Xiao and the others were still unconscious.
Mo Hua examined their condition and found no abnormalities. Only then did he turn to the sword-spirit and say:
"Let me out first. I'll tell you who to release after that. If you dare try anything clever…"
The sword-spirit frantically responded:
"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare…"
Try something clever? That wasn't "clever"—that would be suicide.
Mo Hua nodded in satisfaction, then stretched out his tiny hand and said:
"I'm going out now."
The moment the sword-spirit saw his little hand, it involuntarily shuddered—its ribs, previously snapped by that very hand, still ached faintly.
Still, it managed to suppress the fear.
The sword-spirit returned to its true form—a bone sword.
This bone sword was the key to entering and exiting the blood pool.
Mo Hua gripped the sword, activated his divine sense, and as blood mist swirled around him, the scenery shifted. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back inside the Ten Thousand Demon Valley.
In front of him stood the wall mural of the Demon Refining Diagram.
And in his hand, he still clutched the white broken bone sword, now embedded into the mural.
The instant Mo Hua opened his eyes, the three Golden Core elders—Xun Ziyou and company—immediately sensed it.
Both Xun Ziyou and Xun Zixian breathed a sigh of relief, joy appearing on their faces.
Only Elder Shangguan Xuanjian of the Chongxu Sect looked anxious, his voice filled with both hope and dread:
"Mo Hua… Xiao'er, he…"
Mo Hua gave a dazzling smile:
"It's alright. I brought them all back."
Upon hearing that, Shangguan Xuanjian felt like Mo Hua's face was the most beautiful thing under the heavens.
Even the smile of a celestial maiden couldn't compare to that of Mo Hua at this moment.
Shangguan Xuanjian let out a long, deep breath—like a drowning man who had finally clawed his way to shore. He felt both exhausted and relieved.
"Then Xiao'er, he…"
He looked toward Linghu Xiao, still unconscious, his face pale and bloodless. Worry flickered again in his expression.
Mo Hua said, "Just a moment."
He pulled out the broken bone sword and walked over to Linghu Xiao, placing the sword against his forehead and gently said:
"Sword-spirit, release him."
Inside, the sword-spirit dared not delay in the slightest.
Moments later, Mo Hua sensed a faint return of spiritual presence within Linghu Xiao. Some color returned to his face, and his breath, though faint, became detectable.
Shangguan Xuanjian could hardly contain his joy.
Mo Hua repeated the process, returning the souls of Ouyang Mu and Song Jian to their respective bodies as well.
At that point, all three had been rescued.
However, since their souls had been forcibly removed for the sacrificial ritual, they now needed time to readjust and rest before regaining consciousness.
Shangguan Xuanjian clasped his fists and bowed deeply to Mo Hua:
"Little brother… words cannot express my gratitude. If there's anything you ever need—so long as it doesn't violate the Dao of a cultivator—I will give everything I've got."
Saving Linghu Xiao, a once-in-a-generation sword genius, was essentially saving the future of the Chongxu Sect.
Mo Hua waved it off:
"You're too polite, Elder Shangguan. I merely did a little… insignificant task."
Insignificant… task…
The three Golden Core elders around him all had slightly complicated expressions.
This "insignificant task" involved the Path of Divine Sense—something none of them, even as late-stage Golden Core elders, could have pulled off.
Xun Ziyou couldn't help patting Mo Hua on the shoulder and saying with a bit of exasperation:
"Alright now, it's good to be humble, but too much humility is just… arrogance."
"Elder Shangguan is a man of great virtue and high standing—his word is iron. If he offers his help, don't play polite. Just accept it."
In other words: say yes now before he changes his mind.
A Golden Core elder's promise was something most cultivators could only dream of.
Mo Hua understood and immediately returned the courtesy with a bow and a smile:
"Thank you, Elder Shangguan."
Shangguan Xuanjian nodded.
He had made the offer sincerely—there would be no regrets.
Compared to Linghu Xiao's life, such a promise was nothing.
"Alright," Xun Ziyou spoke up, "since the three kids are safe and the Ten Thousand Demon Valley has been dealt with, let's head back. The sect will handle the rest. You all—"
Mo Hua suddenly interrupted: "Elder Xun, wait a moment."
Xun Ziyou blinked, "Hmm? What is it?"
Mo Hua paused in thought, then slowly said in a deep voice:
"There should still be… another door nearby…"
(End of this Chapter)