Chapter 1052: Demon Valley
Inside the Formation Core Hall— The corpses of the slain evil formation masters lay piled like rivers, and the spoils they had seized formed a small mountain.
Mo Hua arranged a few people to guard the hall's perimeter. Then, with a tap of his finger, spiritual ink coiled into formations, spreading around the hall to cleanse the blood stench and isolate the demonic aura. Only then did he find a comfortable spot, sit cross-legged, and begin calmly examining the spoils before him.
His divine sense was powerful and sharp, giving him an acute insight that allowed him to sort through the loot with remarkable speed.
Moreover, Mo Hua had extensive experience in this area.
The items on the evil formation masters—useful or useless, tainted or clean, worthy of keeping or needing destruction…
He could tell at a glance.
The disciples from other sects watched as Mo Hua's two fair hands moved like burrowing moles, so fast they left afterimages.
It didn't take long before the pile of spoils, as tall as a hill, was meticulously sorted by Mo Hua without missing a single item.
Whether righteous or evil, usable or not, everything was carefully categorized by him.
The sect prodigies looked on, dazed.
Too fast!
Too skilled!
Does Mo Hua kill and loot people every day? Otherwise, why is he so good at this?
And these are demonic items—why does he understand them so well…?
While they were still confused by the heap of evil items, he had already categorized them in just a few breaths?
They were all disciples of righteous sects, having undergone nine years of formal cultivation education. Why was he so familiar with demonic practices?
There was something suspicious about his background…
If Mo Hua hadn't just led them to eliminate eighty evil formation masters, many of these prodigies would have suspected he was actually some junior of a major demon sect—an undercover "demonic prodigy" planted within the righteous sects.
Everyone looked at him with expressions of disbelief.
After finishing his neat and swift inventory, Mo Hua pointed to a pile of storage bags and instructed:
"These are evil tools—unusable…"
"These spirit stones are tainted with blood qi."
"These pills were refined from human flesh and blood—do not touch them under any circumstances."
"These techniques, manuals, and demonic arts—don't read them. It's easy to be corrupted. Throw them all into the Blood River for destruction…"
Then he pointed to another set of storage bags. "These spirit stones are clean, and the pills are standard righteous ones. I've checked with divine sense—no demonic or corrupt qi…"
"You may divide these up, take them to restore spiritual power. We don't know what other demons lie ahead, so prepare thoroughly…"
"And these…"
Mo Hua's commands were clear and precise—he looked extremely "professional."
After some hesitation, the prodigies from each sect followed his instructions.
Gradually, it became a habit.
Some destroyed evil items, some refined spirit stones and pills to recover spiritual power—everyone was busy in an orderly manner.
Only then did Mo Hua turn his attention to another pile of loot.
This one was densely packed with complex, obscure formation diagrams, manuals, formation mediums, and bone slips—
These were firsthand materials of evil grand formations.
This was what Mo Hua truly wanted most.
Ever since being trapped in the evil grand formation, Mo Hua's first thought wasn't escape—but learning and comprehending it.
This was a grand formation—the lifelong pursuit of a formation master.
Even if it was an evil formation, it was still a grand formation.
Constructing one was extremely difficult and resource-consuming.
Thus, the number of functioning grand formations in the cultivation world was extremely limited.
Encountering one that was fully activated was even rarer.
To then be "immersed" in it and able to learn from it—that was an incredibly rare opportunity.
Even more so, the grade of the formation couldn't be too high.
The Dao Mountain Grand Formation had been fully activated before Mo Hua once—but it was a fifth-grade formation. The level was too high, far beyond his current understanding. Like a natural phenomenon, it was too profound to comprehend, leaving him unable to learn anything.
But the evil grand formation before him—through "symbol suppression compatibility"—sat between second and third grade.
And since it was hastily activated, some formations hadn't been completed, some formation core structures hadn't fully "sealed," the circulation of the formation eye and the flow of demonic power hadn't closed the loop yet— It was almost the perfect real-life study material for constructing grand formations above second grade.
To Mo Hua, this was a rare and invaluable opportunity.
He focused himself and began carefully flipping through the massive amount of formation "diagrams" looted from the evil formation masters.
He didn't need to study the specific formations—they were evil, and would contaminate his internal formation library.
But the structure and core of the grand formation—those had to be studied.
By ignoring the specific and superficial demonic aspects, he aimed to understand the true nature of the formation—grasp the internal operation of its core, and reconstruct its macro framework.
This was the measure of a formation master's vision—
And also the experience required of a chief formation master responsible for constructing a grand formation.
This was the highest level of formation theory.
So Mo Hua flipped, calculated, and casually took out brush and paper to sketch out the core structure of the grand formation.
Nearby sect disciples, while meditating to recover spiritual power, couldn't help but sneak glances at Mo Hua, curious about what he was drawing.
But the moment they looked, their scalps tingled.
The handwriting was messy, the structure complex, the lines obscure and abstract.
A single formation rune—they could somewhat understand, at least recognize it as second-grade.
But once combined—it became complete gibberish. They couldn't even tell what any line or symbol meant…
"So this is the world of a true formation expert…"
Everyone looked at Mo Hua in stunned silence.
On the surface, they were all human.
But their minds… clearly belonged to entirely different species.
At the very least, no normal human should be able to comprehend those "abstract" formation patterns.
Even the disciples of the Myriad Formation Sect—whose sect was founded on formation arts and who had passed the second-grade formation master certification—looked at Mo Hua's casual sketches and felt their brains tremble and hearts tighten.
For a moment, they were filled with intense self-doubt.
Had they really studied formation arts?
Had they really passed the second-grade formation master exam?
Why did this formation diagram—clearly of the second grade—look so unfamiliar and incomprehensible?
"Formations… are drawn like this?"
"Were all the formations we learned before fake?"
Back during the sword debate, they hadn't felt it so strongly.
But now, standing beside Mo Hua and watching him study formations—especially core principles of a grand formation—the impact was overwhelming, almost mind-melting.
Many were shocked, their minds unable to settle for a long while…
And so, time quietly slipped by.
Mo Hua remained fully focused, immersed in researching the heretical grand formation.
He had skipped the heretical parts, refining the formation's core structure bit by bit.
The overall framework, like the branches and trunk of a massive tree, was reproduced on the formation paper in messy yet profound strokes by Mo Hua's hand.
In Mo Hua's sea of consciousness, the main structure of the grand formation was becoming increasingly clear.
But as he continued calculating, his brows gradually furrowed.
"Can't complete it?"
What he had deduced was the formation structure centered around his current position, extending outward to cover most of the Yanluo Mountain area.
But this portion couldn't form a complete core-circulation system.
That meant… the Yanluo Mountain formation wasn't the entire heretical grand formation.
The full scale of this heretical formation was far greater than Mo Hua had previously imagined.
In fact, the Yanluo Mountain region might only be a sub-array block of the whole formation.
This was beginning to exceed Mo Hua's existing formation experience.
At the very least, its structure was completely different from the Grade-One Five Elements Demon-Slaughtering Formation he had constructed before.
"No wonder it's close to a Grade-Three grand formation…"
Mo Hua sighed lightly.
Even with his current divine sense talent and formation attainments, deciphering it was extremely taxing.
He flipped through the "relics" of the heretical formation master and found a few characters on an ancient fragment of a formation diagram:
"Wilderness Blood Sacrifice."
Mo Hua's heart trembled slightly.
"That's the name of the formation? The Wilderness Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation…"
These words carried an ancient, overwhelming killing aura—just hearing them evoked bloodshed and brutality.
"Blood Sacrifice"…
The key likely lay in that word "sacrifice." A formation used for sacrificial purposes was definitely nothing like ordinary grand formations—and certainly outside the realm of everything he'd learned before.
Mo Hua's brows knit tighter and tighter.
He realized he had still underestimated this heretical grand formation.
It was far grander, far more complex than he'd imagined.
And within it were undoubtedly deeper formation secrets—far beyond what could be comprehended from simply tracing formation lines and reverse-engineering the structure at a surface level.
Mo Hua forced himself to remain patient and continued studying for a while.
The outline of the grand formation grew clearer in his mind.
But that was as far as he could go.
The current heretical formation diagrams and records he had scavenged from the heretical formation master were no longer enough to support deeper study.
Involuntarily, Mo Hua thought of the four Jindan-stage heretical formation masters inside the secret core-formation chamber—the ones who drank liquor soaked with deformed eyeballs.
Those four held the more central cores of the grand formation—and they certainly possessed more confidential knowledge regarding the Wilderness Blood Sacrifice Formation.
"Kill them, loot them, and then study the more secretive formation cores?"
Mo Hua felt an urge rising within, but after a moment's consideration, he suppressed the killing intent.
Jindan-stage—that was an entirely different major realm, another tier of cultivation.
What's more, Yanluo Mountain was a Grade-Three territory. Within such a territory, Jindan-level formation masters—especially heretical ones—weren't suppressed by the Heavenly Dao. They could fully unleash their power and activate Grade-Three heretical formations at full strength, which were extremely dangerous and sinister.
And worst of all, this was their home turf.
There were four Jindan heretical formation masters…
Even Mo Hua didn't dare to take the risk lightly.
Sure, he now commanded several hundred Tianjiao from Ganxue Academy. With his divine sense transformed into swords, if a real fight broke out, there was a chance he could slay those four.
But the price—was that someone would definitely die.
How many would die depended on the plan, on luck, and on the individual power and methods of those four Jindan heretical formation masters.
The most crucial thing was—Mo Hua had acted cautiously and hadn't dared to investigate the four heretical formation masters too closely, so he didn't know their exact cultivation levels.
If they were merely early Jindan, that would be manageable.
But if even one or two of them were mid- or late-stage Jindan, things would go badly.
In a real fight… no one could tell how many Tianjiao disciples might perish.
That wouldn't have mattered before—but now Mo Hua was their "big brother." These Tianjiao were following his lead. He couldn't just send them to die.
"…Forget it. Less trouble is better than more. Making a move on the Jindan heretical masters now would be reckless. Let's spare them for now…"
Mo Hua fell into silent contemplation.
"Forget it, better to have one less problem than one more. Taking action against a Golden Core Evil Formation Master now would be a bit reckless. Let them live… for now."
Mo Hua pondered silently.
The matter of studying the Desolate Heaven Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation could also be postponed.
The most urgent task at hand was still to leave the Evil Formation of Yanluo Mountain as soon as possible.
He and his group had slaughtered over eighty Evil Formation Masters. Once this was exposed, it would undoubtedly provoke retaliation from the Evil Gods and demonic cultivators.
No matter how secretly it was done, it could only be concealed for a while, not forever.
Moreover, the demonic energy in the air was growing thicker and heavier.
If they didn't escape soon, the longer it dragged on, the worse the situation would become.
"Find a path and get everyone out first…"
With a plan forming in his mind, Mo Hua no longer hesitated and said to the others, "Pack up your things. Follow me."
Entering the grand formation from the outside wasn't easy, but getting out from the inside was much simpler.
Especially since Mo Hua had already killed many Evil Formation Masters, and with the formation diagrams they left behind, he had deciphered most of the structure of the grand formation surrounding Yanluo Mountain.
This analysis was still limited in form—for true insight, control, or reconstruction of the formation, it fell far short of Mo Hua's expectations of himself.
But it was more than enough to simply lead a way out.
After all, building a new house and just guiding someone out of it were two completely different levels of difficulty.
As long as he could get these hundreds of Tianjiao from Qianxue Academy—and his junior disciples—out of Yanluo Mountain alive, then the mission could be considered accomplished.
With the plan set, Mo Hua took the lead and walked ahead.
The group of Tianjiao followed silently, quietly trailing behind Mo Hua.
Everyone left the formation's core hall one by one, moving through a series of hidden tunnels leading out of Yanluo Mountain.
The path twisted and turned—sometimes climbing over rocks, sometimes crossing beams, sometimes squeezing through narrow tunnels…
Mo Hua moved as if it were second nature, as though the Desolate Heaven Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation had been created by him. Walking through this wicked formation, he looked like he was strolling through his own courtyard—utterly baffling to those behind him.
In this way, the journey proceeded quite smoothly.
The patrolling demonic cultivators and formation-based warning systems were almost entirely avoided by Mo Hua.
If they happened to encounter a few demonic cultivators and couldn't avoid them, Mo Hua would control them, and then the other Tianjiao would kill them and destroy the bodies without a trace.
Before long, the exit of Yanluo Mountain was within sight.
All that lay before them was a long stone bridge and the pitch-black valley below.
But suddenly, Mo Hua stopped, his expression growing increasingly grim.
"Senior Brother, what is it?" Situ Jian asked.
Mo Hua shook his head and sighed. "We can't leave—at least not yet."
Situ Jian frowned, and the others also looked confused.
Mo Hua pointed toward the valley. "Look down there. Be careful. Hold your breath, focus your mind, and don't release any spiritual presence."
The group followed Mo Hua's instructions—holding their breath, suppressing their aura—and peeked down.
At that moment, everyone's face turned ghostly pale, drained of all color.
The valley was deep, pitch black. But looking closely, one could vaguely make out that the earth veins at the bottom were stained red with blood.
And within those veins, clusters of wriggling flesh were growing.
These lumps of flesh were like embryos, floating in inky black amniotic fluid, wrapped in foul, sticky membranes. Through the translucent membrane, one could faintly see inside—grotesque demons born from a mix of deformed human limbs and various beasts, fused together in terrifying forms.
The earth veins were nourishing them.
Some embryos were still slowly growing, but others had already shed their skins and turned into blood-drenched flesh demons. Their fanged mouths gnawed at nearby carcasses, eating bit by bit, evolving step by step…
And these flesh demons were packed densely, filling the entire valley. Some were even drifting down the blood river, spreading farther and farther into the dark unknown with no end in sight.
In the blood-colored earth veins and boundless darkness, no one knew how many embryos had been incubated, how many demons had been bred…
This hellish scene chilled every sect disciple to the bone, as if plunged into an icy abyss.
If someone were to fall into that valley, the outcome would be unimaginable.
Even a small disturbance that drew the attention of these demons could lead to being swarmed by countless monsters—leaving no corpse behind.
And if these demons ever emerged from the valley and flooded onto the land of Qianxue, it would spell an extinction-level calamity, one of blood and slaughter.
Most low-level cultivators would be nothing more than food for these flesh demons.
Terror gripped every disciple's heart.
Mo Hua, though equally shaken, suddenly understood everything in a flash…
So that was why Mr. Tu had killed so many people—to raise so many demons.
It explained why, in his nightmare, he had fought numerous evil spirits and monsters, yet in reality, aside from the fish demons in that blood-colored fishing village, he had seen very few flesh-born monsters.
That was because all the flesh demons had been kept by Mr. Tu in this blood-colored earth vein, sealed within the Desolate Heaven Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation.
Mo Hua's gaze sharpened. He was beginning to truly understand what "Desolate Heaven Blood Sacrifice" meant.
The monsters of the Great Desolation came in two types—tangible and intangible.
The tangible were flesh; the intangible were malevolent spirits.
The Evil God's cultists sold cultivators, slaughtered entire families—creating sacrificial offerings through killing.
The flesh of the cultivators was used to refine flesh demons.
Their lingering souls were used to refine spirit demons.
Flesh demons would wage war in the mortal realm.
Spirit demons would construct nightmares.
In other words, Mr. Tu controlled not just one, but two demon armies.
One—of spirit demons—was raised within the altar of the Tree of Divine Authority.
The other—of flesh demons—was raised inside the Desolate Heaven Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation.
Once the formation was activated, and evil power shrouded the heavens and earth, both demon armies would be unleashed upon the world.
They would not only massacre cultivators en masse, but also devour human souls, bringing slaughter to the real world and despair to the dream realm.
Heaven and earth are heartless, treating all things as mere straw dogs.
Eventually, the boundary between reality and nightmare would collapse. The real and the unreal would merge—and the Evil God would truly descend upon the mortal realm.
By then, all cultivators under heaven would be consumed by suffering and despair, by killing and fear. Their flesh and souls alike would become offerings to the Lord of the Great Desolation.
From life to death, from body to soul—none would be spared.
This… was the Desolate Heaven Blood Sacrifice.
(End of this Chapter)