But is it really that simple? Mo Hua went to ask Mr. Zhuang again. "Gentleman, for Formation Calculation, don’t you have to calculate it all at once?" "No need." "Can you calculate a little each day?" Mr. Zhuang nodded and said, "You can." That’s indeed the case. Mo Hua sighed. He had jumped to conclusions and fallen into a trap. If he had asked Mr. Zhuang earlier, he could have understood this sooner... Mo Hua then said, "Then in that case, collapsing a Formation doesn’t seem so difficult..." Mr. Zhuang’s expression became subtly complicated, and he couldn’t help saying, "You can say that here, but don’t say it outside, or you’ll get beaten up..." Mo Hua was stunned, "Why?" Mr. Zhuang said helplessly, "The biggest difficulty in collapsing Formations lies in the Reversed Spirit Formation and Divine Sense Calculation." "A First Grade Reversed Spirit Formation has ten Patterns, exceeding ordinary Formation specifications. The same is true for Second Grade and above; there are only a handful of Formation Masters in this world who can master these Formations." "Divine Sense Calculation also requires a vast Divine Sense as a foundation. An average Formation Master doesn’t have sufficient Divine Sense to even qualify for Calculation. If they force themselves to Calculate, their Sea of Consciousness will dry up instantly." "Divine Sense Calculation doesn’t need to be done in one thought; you can calculate bit by bit, but even so, it requires an immense amount of Divine Sense and a great deal of time." "Therefore, for a Formation Master, if they don’t know the Reversed Spirit Formation, they can’t start to collapse a Formation. Even if they learn the Reversed Spirit Formation, they may not have the Divine Sense to Calculate; even if they have the Divine Sense to Calculate, they won’t have enough time. If they can’t Calculate, naturally, they also can’t collapse it..." "Is it that difficult?" Mo Hua was somewhat surprised, "I thought, since Divine Sense Calculation doesn’t need to be done in one thought, collapsing a Formation would be easy..." Mr. Zhuang looked at Mo Hua and sighed, "You kid, now you’re somewhat blithely uninformed..." Not everyone has such strong Divine Sense. Mo Hua smiled sheepishly. Then he asked softly, "Gentleman, is there any danger in collapsing a Compound Formation?" Mr. Zhuang looked at Mo Hua in surprise, "Have you collapsed a Formation before?" Mo Hua knew he couldn’t deceive Mr. Zhuang, so he told the truth, "I collapsed a First Grade Earth Fire Formation." Mr. Zhuang’s eyelids twitched slightly. He had guessed that Mo Hua would learn quickly, but he hadn’t expected Mo Hua to actually learn this fast. He had only mentioned the method of collapsing Formations briefly, yet Mo Hua had managed to figure it out on his own. For a moment, Mr. Zhuang hesitated, not sure whether he should continue teaching. Divine Sense Calculation, Formation Collapse. This was already way beyond the standard... He had never thought that in his life he would teach these things to a disciple, especially to a Qi Refinement Realm nominal disciple... Mr. Zhuang was indecisive, looking at Mo Hua, conceiving of something. After a moment, his eyes slightly brightened, as if he had made a decision. "Gentleman?" Mo Hua said softly. Mr. Zhuang snapped back to reality and thought for a moment before saying: "To collapse a Compound Formation, the method is still the same. Just be careful not to get yourself killed." "Not to get myself killed?" Mo Hua was stunned, "Can just running away do the job?" "Either run far away or leave yourself a Life-gate," Mr. Zhuang said. "Life-gate... What does that mean?" Mo Hua didn’t understand. "Do you remember what I told you about the Great Dao giving rise to life and destruction?" Mo nodded. "The Great Dao brings life as well as destruction; where there is destruction, there is life. The collapse of a Formation is destruction, and calculating the Life-gate is creation. A Formation Master can use a Formation to kill enemies, but if they don’t leave a Life-gate, they’ll be fools if they get killed by their own Formation." Mo Hua definitely didn’t want to be that fool, so he earnestly sought advice: "How do I leave a Life-gate?" "When calculating with Divine Sense, carefully sense where the Spiritual Power of the Formation Pivot is the weakest; that’s the Life-gate. Don’t form a Reversed Spirit Formation near the Life-gate." Mo Hua nodded and added, "Does collapsing a Single Formation also involve a Life-gate?" "A Single Formation has too weak a structure of Spiritual Power, and the force of collapse is too small. There is a Life-gate, but the range is also small; it’s almost the same as not having one at all. Only consider a Life-gate when collapsing Compound Formations and above." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮 "Understood, Gentleman!" Mo Hua had no other questions and didn’t want to disturb the Gentleman’s rest anymore. He stood up to take his leave. After Mo Hua left, Mr. Zhuang sat in the bamboo chair in silence for a long time. Old Kui appeared silently behind Mr. Zhuang and said indifferently, "If you keep teaching him, I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave." Mr. Zhuang responded with a wry smile, "I didn’t expect him to learn so quickly." "How much longer?" Mr. Zhuang’s expression grew somber, "It should be... soon..." "Aren’t you waiting for the kid Mo Hua to learn how to collapse Compound Formations?" Mr. Zhuang shook his head, "This is already beyond the scope of what he should be learning at this stage, it doesn’t matter whether he learns it or not." "I was worried that once I left, there would be no one to teach him these things. That’s why I’ve taught him everything ahead of time. I just didn’t expect that whatever I taught him, he could actually learn, and moreover, learn it really well..." Mr. Zhuang’s expression was somewhat complex and full of emotion. He then continued in a different tone: "However, the collapse of a Compound Formation is different, it requires the consumption of a great deal of Divine Sense. Mo Hua shouldn’t be able to learn that in a short time." "Really?" Old Kui said woodenly. Mr. Zhuang nodded but stopped as the words reached his lips. Could he really not learn it? Mr. Zhuang hesitated, recalling all that Mo Hua had done so far, he was suddenly not so sure. This named disciple of his seemed indeed not to conform to common logic... After returning, Mo Hua began eagerly to try collapsing Compound Formations, as well as performing Calculations for the Life-gate. The harder the Formation, the more interesting it was. Moreover, the collapse of a Compound Formation was something that could harm Foundation Building Cultivators! However, Mo Hua only realized after trying that performing Calculations for Compound Formations indeed required too much Divine Sense. Even with the help of the Taoist Stele, which allowed retrospective tracking of Divine Sense after completion, it still required a lot of time, and was not something that could be finished overnight. Mo Hua felt somewhat regretful, but quickly adjusted his attitude. If the power of collapsing a Compound Formation was truly that strong, then it was only right to spend more Divine Sense and time on it. Mo Hua then began patiently calculating the Formation Patterns of the Compound Formation, one by one. Several days later, Mo Hua was sitting in a food establishment calculating Formations when a burly Cultivator with square brows and eyes walked in. Mo Hua’s Divine Sense stirred, and he looked up to see, a bit surprised, "Leader Yang?" Leader Yang revealed a friendly smile, "Little Mr. Mo, Drawing Formations, I see?" "Yes," Mo Hua nodded, then called out, "Leader Yang, please have a seat." Leader Yang took a seat next to Mo Hua and pretended to be displeased: "I’ve said there’s no need to be so formal, just call me Uncle Yang." "Oh, oh," Mo Hua remembered and smiled while calling out "Uncle Yang." Leader Yang grinned and nodded. Mo Hua asked, "Uncle Yang, do you need something from me?" "I’m about to leave and wanted to hold a farewell banquet, so I especially came to invite you," Leader Yang stated his purpose. "Uncle Yang, you’re too kind." Mo Hua said, and then realized something was amiss, "Shouldn’t we organize a banquet for you and then invite you?" How did it become you holding a banquet and inviting me...? Leader Yang waved his hand, "That’s a trivial matter, don’t mind it." Mo Hua looked puzzled and glanced at Leader Yang skeptically, "Is there something going on?" "A small matter, I’ll tell you later." Leader Yang didn’t want to speak, so Mo Hua didn’t press further. He remembered another issue and asked in a low voice, "Were the Householder and the third one captured?" After Black Mountain Stronghold was destroyed, most of the Evil Cultivators were either killed or captured; the rest, being insignificant figures, even if they fled, couldn’t stir up much trouble anymore. But the Householder and the third one were different. One was the leader of Black Mountain Stronghold, the main culprit who established the stronghold, gathered Evil Cultivators, and reigned over an area, committing evil deeds for hundreds of years. The other was a genuine Second Grade Evil Formation Master, with Foundation Establishment Realm strength, skillful in Drawing Evil Formations, and possibly other unknown techniques at his disposal. Without capturing these two, Mo Hua always felt somewhat uneasy. Leader Yang’s expression darkened and he spoke in a lower voice to Mo Hua: "We’ve searched the mountains for days, capturing most Evil Cultivators, with hardly any slip-ups. But the Householder and the third one, not a single trace found." Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened, and he furrowed his brows, "They’re in the mountains, could they still have a place to hide?" Leader Yang nodded, "That’s what I’m thinking too. But the mountain is vast, there are Second Grade Monster Beasts, and we are not familiar with the terrain, so we can’t search too boldly." "Moreover, they’re both at the Foundation Establishment, and if they want to evade our search, it’s all too easy." Leader Yang sighed, "The deployment of the Taoist Soldiers has a time limit, and now that time is nearly up, we can’t continue to search indefinitely." "The rest is up to the Taoist Court and Elder Yu." Mo Hua nodded, "I understand, thank you, Uncle Yang!" "What are you thanking me for?" Mo Hua expressed his gratitude, "Without Uncle Yang leading the Taoist Soldiers in this eradication of Black Mountain Stronghold, there would likely be numerous casualties among the Loose Cultivators of Tongxian City. Now that we’ve successfully breached the stronghold, naturally I owe a great deal of thanks to Uncle Yang." "It’s what I should do, there’s no need for thanks!" Leader Yang appeared indifferent, but he was nonetheless pleased to be appreciated by Mo Hua, and the corners of his eyes betrayed a hint of pride he couldn’t quite hide. After talking casually for a few moments, Leader Yang stood up to leave. "Tomorrow at noon, at the Spiritual Meal Building in the north city, make sure you remember to come!" Mo Hua nodded, "Certainly, certainly!"