Immortality Through Array Formations (The Quest for Immortality)

Chapter 598: Merit

Being called "Little Senior Brother" by a group of fellow disciples—some around his age, others a year or two older, and some who looked much older—still made Mo Hua feel a little awkward.

The disciples themselves were just as uncomfortable, calling him that title in hesitant, barely audible voices—as if even the air would mock them for it.

But this was Old Mister Xun's decree.

Old Mister Xun was highly respected. Even many core elders of the inner sect wouldn't dare oppose his words lightly.

Let alone these new outer sect disciples.

Still, once might feel strange—twice becomes familiar.

The more they called him that, the easier it rolled off the tongue.

After a few repetitions, the awkwardness faded, and it became routine.

Of course, some people were still unconvinced.

Every now and then, a few troublemakers would come up with excuses to "challenge" Mo Hua.

Mo Hua never took them too seriously. He didn't even need to lift a finger. Just invoking Old Mister Xun's name, along with his "Little Senior Brother" authority, was enough. He'd assign them more array homework—just enough to make them regret their lives.

These troublemakers would immediately fall in line.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator's divine sense typically ranged from ten to thirteen marks.

Most of these newcomers only had ten or eleven marks. Drawing one or two arrays was fine—but doing several in a row? That was pure spiritual torture.

And Mo Hua, who painted formations daily, had a keen understanding of divine sense limits.

The homework he gave was calculated to the brink: just enough for them to barely finish, leaving them exhausted—but not damaged.

A small but memorable lesson.

And with Old Mister Xun's authority behind him, none of them dared to skip out.

After a few rounds of this, no one dared openly challenge Mo Hua's "authority" again.

Over time, Mo Hua's identity as "Little Senior Brother" became gradually accepted.

Though he had the title, Mo Hua never acted superior. He was just as humble and approachable as before.

Many disciples began quietly seeking him out—during breaks or after class—for help with formation questions.

Some things they didn't understand in class, and didn't dare ask Old Mister Xun… they'd ask Mo Hua instead.

Because let's be honest—Mo Hua was way more approachable (and cuter) than Old Mister Xun.

And Mo Hua never held back. Anyone who sincerely wanted to learn formations, he would patiently teach and explain everything he knew.

He still remembered what Instructor Yan once told him:

"The Dao of Formations is like water. Only when passed down does it flow endlessly."

Being stingy with knowledge only causes the great Dao encoded within arrays to decay—becoming nothing more than a stagnant puddle.

So as long as someone genuinely wanted to learn, Mo Hua was always generous in his teachings.

Grateful for his help, the disciples began calling him "Little Senior Brother" more naturally.

The more Old Mister Xun "slacked off," the more Mo Hua ended up teaching. With time, his bond with these fellow disciples grew stronger.

Half-teacher, half-peer—these ties of brotherhood deepened.

Old Mister Xun took note of all this quietly, and felt comforted.

With such connections, Mo Hua was slowly building a foundation within the Great Void Sect.

The longer time passed, the deeper those bonds would grow—and the more stable his place in the sect would become.

There was just one issue…

There weren't enough people.

Taiyi Hall only had around a hundred disciples. These were the ones attending formation classes and calling Mo Hua "Little Senior Brother."

But this generation's batch of talents had nearly a thousand people.

The rest, being in different lecture halls, weren't taught by Mo Hua at all…

Old Mister Xun quietly thought to himself:

"I need to find an opportunity to have this entire cohort… every last one of them… attend Mo Hua's class and call him 'Little Senior Brother.'"

"Not a single one shall be left out!"

Old Mister Xun was planning far ahead.

The foundation of a sect isn't just buildings or techniques—it's people. It's the disciples who carry on the sect's legacy.

Bonding with the disciples of a sect… is building a bond with the sect itself.

The Great Void Sect was one of the Eight Great Sects. Its members might not match the influence of the Four Great Clans, but they were still elite cultivators across the cultivation world.

With strong peer relations, Mo Hua would be better off when traveling outside the sect in the future.

Across the Nine Provinces, all would be his fellow disciples.

Across the Four Seas, there would be old friends.

Wherever he went, someone would call him "Little Senior Brother." That would make everything easier.

With these ties to rely on, he wouldn't forget the sect's kindness.

And with the support of the sect and its members, he wouldn't have to fear being suppressed by noble families or seduced by demonic sects.

Only then could he have the confidence to stay true to himself—resisting evil and seeking the true Dao…

Old Mister Xun's gaze grew deeper, and he nodded slightly.

Then suddenly, he remembered something and frowned.

"Though the sect's foundation is its people… the sect also has a structured tradition of inheritance."

"Rules must still exist. The logic of how disciples receive their inheritance must be maintained."

"If something is gained too easily… it often won't be treasured."

"I mustn't be too biased. Otherwise, he won't be tempered properly…"

"The hardships that should be endured… must still be endured."

Old Mister Xun arched his brow slightly.

…

Meanwhile, Mo Hua had no idea what careful plans Old Mister Xun was laying behind the scenes.

His days were packed with training, attending class, giving lectures, and squeezing in time to study formations.

He was currently studying a formation called "Rain Marsh Array."

It was a Second-Grade, 15-mark formation of the Water Trigram system from the Eight Trigrams.

So far, it was the most difficult formation Mo Hua had attempted at the limits of his divine sense.

It had also been given to him by Old Mister Xun.

It seemed the old man wanted Mo Hua's temperament to remain kind, and for his path in formations to be a gentle one. All the formations he provided afterward were wood, water, earth, or stone types—focused on nurturing, cultivation, and sustainable practices.

Not a single killing array.

Mo Hua didn't mind. He simply accepted it.

The Great Void Sect had a peaceful atmosphere—no demonic cultivators, no criminal cultivators, no traffickers, no evil spirits. He didn't really need killing arrays right now.

His main goal was to strengthen his divine sense through formation practice.

Once his divine sense was stronger, he could learn even more advanced formations.

The two paths—formation and divine sense—would complement and reinforce one another.

His cultivation breakthroughs were also directly tied to these two.

He cultivated the Heavenly Deduction Technique, which had a divine sense bottleneck. To break through to higher realms, he would have to solve extremely complex arrays—particularly a Heaven-Obscuring Grand Array for major breakthroughs.

This time, there would be no Martial Uncle to "help" him cheat.

He'd have to rely on himself—meaning his divine sense had to be sharp, and his formations had to be on point.

All his techniques also relied on a strong divine sense.

To walk the Dao through divine sense, that was his foundation.

Cultivation takes time. It can't be rushed. It must accumulate like water drop by drop.

Mo Hua's current plan was to master the 15-mark formation, then temper his divine sense to 16 marks—or even higher. That way, when the time came to break through, the bottleneck would be easier to overcome.

Then it would be: 15-mark formations… then 16… then 17… climbing ever higher…

But after half a month, Old Mister Xun gave him a shock:

"There are no more formations for you to learn."

Mo Hua froze.

Old Mister Xun sighed and said, "I forgot to tell you before—the Great Void Sect also has rules."

"Rules?" Mo Hua blinked.

"Rules," Old Mister Xun stressed, and then patiently explained.

"These were set by the ancestors. I can't change them, either…"

Mo Hua nodded, finding that very reasonable—completely unaware that Old Mister Xun himself was one of those very 'ancestors' he was referring to.

Old Mister Xun continued:

"The formations taught in class are provided freely by the sect."

"But extracurricular formations, in principle, require contribution points."

"Especially since you just entered the sect and are only in early Foundation Establishment, the formations you're allowed to learn theoretically shouldn't exceed eleven marks."

"Formations of twelve or thirteen marks? At the earliest, those are for next year or the year after."

"And even then, it's not mandatory."

"Most early Foundation disciples—even those at the peak—struggle with twelve-mark formations. Thirteen is even harder."

Old Mister Xun gave Mo Hua a look. "So those fourteen- and fifteen-mark formations I gave you? They were way beyond the curriculum. I made an exception just for you."

Mo Hua was moved and thanked him sincerely, "Thank you, Old Mister Xun!"

Then he hesitated and asked nervously, "You… you're not going to settle accounts later and make me pay spirit stones, right?"

He had no idea how many spirit stones second-grade fourteen- and fifteen-mark formations normally cost.

But being formal, orthodox formations recorded by the sect—especially from the Eight Trigrams system—he was pretty sure they weren't cheap.

Mainly… he'd learned a lot.

Without realizing it, Old Mister Xun had already given him quite a few formation scrolls.

He'd only received one fifteen-mark formation—the Rain Marsh Array—but he'd already learned a ton of thirteen- and fourteen-mark ones.

If he had to pay for all of those… his meager savings would be instantly bankrupt.

Mo Hua furrowed his brows, visibly troubled.

Old Mister Xun glanced at him, let him worry for a moment, then finally said:

"That won't be necessary. Since I gave them to you, you can rest assured. No need to pay spirit stones. Besides, within the Great Void Sect, inheritance isn't something bought with spirit stones."

"No spirit stones?" Mo Hua blinked. "Then with what?"

Old Mister Xun replied, "Merit."

"Merit?" Mo Hua repeated, puzzled—no one had mentioned this when he entered the sect.

Old Mister Xun explained:

"Merit refers to a disciple's contributions or accomplishments for the sect."

"Not just the Great Void Sect—the entire Qianxue Province, including the Four Great Sects, Eight Major Clans, the Twelve Streams, the Hundred Sects of Qianxue, and the thousands of smaller sects under them—all implement a merit-based system."

"This reform was established by the ancestors of Qianxue Province, to unify the sects, strengthen cohesion, reduce inequality among disciples, and give everyone a fair chance at obtaining cultivation resources and earning sect status."

"If disciples enter the sect with huge wealth gaps and power disparities, it inevitably leads to currying favor, vanity, and toxic comparisons."

"The poor become servants to the rich, the powerless cling to the powerful."

"When that happens, the sect environment becomes foul, Dao hearts become corrupted by greed and vanity, and no one seeks the true Dao anymore."

Mo Hua suddenly realized, "That's why the sect limited the spirit stones we could bring in, and restricted access to pills, spirit tools, and heavenly treasures upon entry…"

Old Mister Xun nodded. "Exactly. Once you join the sect, you're meant to rely on your own efforts."

"Even those from noble families must earn their merit and exchange it for cultivation resources. That way, they learn how difficult the path truly is."

"Disciples from humble backgrounds, on the other hand, can rely on their effort and resilience. Through sect merit, they can obtain resources they'd never access outside—raising their cultivation realm and pursuing the Dao."

However…

Within the Eight Great Sects, such "humble-background" disciples had become increasingly rare…

Old Mister Xun sighed softly in his heart.

"Merit, huh…" Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "Can merit be exchanged for good stuff?"

Old Mister Xun nodded. "Better than you think."

Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat. He suddenly remembered that one name:

The Great Void Divine Sense Sword Technique!

If his merit was high enough, could he exchange for that powerful sword art—one likely hidden in the Great Void Sect?

Mo Hua considered asking, but in the end, didn't.

This kind of thing… had to be done quietly.

If he brought it up and Old Mister Xun asked how he knew about it, he wouldn't have a good answer—and might expose the secret of his Heavenly Pattern Deduction.

Besides, if that technique was obtainable… then what about…

Second-grade ultimate formations?

His eyes gleamed, his heart full of anticipation.

Unaware of Mo Hua's scheming thoughts, Old Mister Xun continued explaining:

"...That's why merit is extremely important for sect disciples."

"The sect's merit system helps foster loyalty and belonging."

When you contribute to the sect, and the sect rewards you by aiding your cultivation—both sides form a bond.

In this world, relationships without interests rarely survive hardship—they're illusions like flowers in a mirror, or the moon on water.

Old Mister Xun had lived long enough to understand this deeply.

Mo Hua suddenly thought of something and asked:

"Sir, earlier you said merit was also tied to sect rank. Does that include promotion from outer sect to inner sect?"

Old Mister Xun seemed surprised, but nodded. "Yes."

He paused in thought, then asked in return:

"Mo Hua, what do you think is more important in selecting disciples—talent or temperament?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment and replied, "Both are important, but temperament is actually more important."

Old Mister Xun nodded. "That's right. Unfortunately, nowadays, sects focus solely on innate talent and ignore character…"

"Though people's minds are complex and fickle… those with poor temperaments can still reform, while good ones can be corrupted."

"But talent—if it's good, it's good. If not, it's not. It's straightforward…"

"Yet even so, cultivation without heart is meaningless. With only power and no Dao, one easily becomes a puppet of others' divine senses…"

Mo Hua deeply agreed, nodding.

He had seen far too many cultivators who fell into Dao heart demon seeds—killed by his Senior Uncle's hands.

Those with strong minds might last a little longer.

But those with weak temperament—just one glance from his uncle, and they'd go mad on the spot…

But still…

Why had Old Mister Xun suddenly brought this up?

Mo Hua was puzzled and asked:

"Sir, what does that have to do with merit?"

Old Mister Xun sighed deeply, recalling the past:

"In the beginning, sects in Qianxue Province had no merit system. Rules were lax, and they only cared about talent when recruiting disciples."

"If someone had high-grade or top-middle-grade spiritual roots, the sects would fight over them."

"They'd give them anything—techniques, treasures, pills, spirit tools—whatever they wanted."

"But…"

"That caused these geniuses to become arrogant, thinking everything they received was due to their own brilliance. They forgot the sect's contributions and kindness."

"Ungrateful, disloyal, and even turning to demonic paths… such 'chosen ones' became far too common."

"The sects invested everything… only to raise a pack of ungrateful wolves."

"After suffering greatly, the ancestors established the 'merit system': no matter how talented, one could only obtain true inheritance by making real contributions to the sect."

"For outer sect disciples to advance to inner sect, talent alone wasn't enough—they needed merit too."

"Inner sect disciples—whether ordinary or core disciples—also needed to contribute in order to become elders."

"In other words, as long as your contributions to the sect are great enough, you can enter the inner sect, become a core disciple, a core elder, or even…"

"Become the Sect Master!"

Old Mister Xun's voice was passionate.

After saying that, he looked at Mo Hua—only to see him nod without showing any particular excitement.

He understood immediately: Mo Hua had no interest in joining the inner sect.

Joining the inner sect meant taking a formal master.

This child, Mo Hua, clearly had no intention of entering the inner sect—which meant he didn't want to abandon his current lineage.

Even the prospect of becoming the Sect Master of the Great Void Sect didn't seem all that enticing to him.

Which only confirmed one thing:

This child clearly already had a teacher.

And he was someone who valued loyalty and sentiment—recognizing only his first master.

Old Mister Xun felt a hint of regret… but also deep admiration.

Afterward, he added a few more explanations, wrapping up the origin and purpose of the merit system before saying:

"So from now on, if you want to keep learning formation techniques, you'll have to contribute to the sect and earn merit points. Only then can you exchange for those fifteen-mark, sixteen-mark, and even higher-level formation scrolls."

Mo Hua thought about it and found it entirely reasonable.

There's no such thing as a free chicken leg in this world.

There's no way the sect would just let him pluck their wool for free.

If too many disciples like him showed up and sheared the sect bald—maybe even into bankruptcy—that wouldn't be good for anyone…

He nodded, then asked:

"Old Mister, how do I earn merit?"

Seeing that Mo Hua wasn't resentful at all, Old Mister Xun nodded with approval and explained:

"Scoring an A in each subject's assessments will grant you some merit…"

"Forging artifacts, refining pills, creating talismans, or drawing formation scrolls for the sect can also be converted into merit…"

"Participating in major Qianxue events—like Dao conferences, sword tournaments—and ranking well will earn merit rewards…"

"Additionally, there are official missions. For example, cooperating with the Dao Court to track down and apprehend criminal cultivators, heretics, demonic cultivators, and the like—those will also count as sect merit…"

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"Of course, those kinds of missions are too bloody and dangerous. You're not ready for that just yet…"

…

Old Mister Xun listed off quite a few things.

Mo Hua memorized everything silently, then asked with confusion:

"Old Mister, how come I didn't know any of this before?"

Old Mister Xun raised an eyebrow and replied:

"Because you didn't have permission to know."

"Permission?"

Old Mister Xun pointed to Mo Hua's waist.

Mo Hua suddenly understood. "The Great Void Token?"

"Exactly," Old Mister Xun said. "When you first entered the sect, someone should've told you that the Great Void Token is essential, and not to lose it…"

"It's not just used for classes, cultivation, and entering or leaving the sect. More importantly…"

"The Great Void Token determines your sect permissions!"

"When you first joined, your token was in its default state. Aside from the basics—taking classes and accessing disciple quarters—it basically had no permissions at all."

"After you've cultivated in the sect for a full year—and the sect has a clearer grasp of your character and background—only then will they unlock your true permissions…"

"That includes the Merit Permissions."

"Once unlocked, you'll be able to take on tasks listed in the token, earn merit, and exchange it for a whole range of resources: the Great Void Sect's treasured techniques, Dao methods, formation inheritances, spirit stones, pills, spiritual items, and more…"

Mo Hua was stunned. Then he hesitated.

"But I've only been in the sect four or five months… I shouldn't be eligible for unlocking permissions yet, right?"

"It's fine," Old Mister Xun replied. "I'll unlock them for you in advance."

"Huh?" Mo Hua blinked. "You can unlock it early?"

Old Mister Xun nodded. "You've been studying formations with me for a while now. Naturally, I know your character well enough. Unlocking the permissions a bit early is no big deal."

"Hand me your token."

Mo Hua respectfully handed over his somewhat plain, beginner-level Great Void Token—with only a single sword-pattern engraved on it.

Old Mister Xun took it, sent out a wisp of divine sense, and the token flashed faintly with light.

Then he handed it back. "Done."

Mo Hua was surprised. "That's it?"

Unlocking permissions was… that simple?

He pondered a bit and vaguely guessed that Old Mister Xun had used his divine sense to activate some array within the token and modify its access level.

But what exactly was done, someone at early Foundation Establishment like Mo Hua still couldn't see through.

Mo Hua took back the token and swept his divine sense over it—sure enough, he felt something different. There were new things inside.

Before he could inspect it more closely, another question popped into his mind.

"Old Mister, didn't you say the sect's rules can't be changed…"

Mo Hua eyed him suspiciously. "Then wouldn't this count as… breaking the rules?"

Old Mister Xun froze for a second.

This kid's little brain sure turned fast…

With a serious expression, Old Mister Xun declared:

"It doesn't count!"

"Really?"

"If I say it doesn't count—then it doesn't!"

"…"

Mo Hua was at a loss for words.

Still, having the permissions unlocked was a good thing. He decided not to dwell on it.

As a newly inducted disciple, what did he know about rules anyway?

Mo Hua held the token with anticipation, eager to check what kind of tasks there were… and what amazing treasures he could redeem…

Old Mister Xun looked at him and gave one final reminder:

"Cultivation must be approached steadily—don't aim too high too fast."

"Though I've unlocked your permissions, you've only just entered the sect. Your cultivation is still shallow, and you lack experience…"

"So start with some beginner tasks—drawing arrays, sweeping the Dao grounds, guarding a gate or two…"

"As for chasing criminal cultivators, slaying heretics, or wiping out demonic sects…"

"Those kinds of dangerous missions—you'd better not accept them!"

"Mm-hmm!" Mo Hua nodded obediently, face full of sincerity.

(End of this Chapter)