Chapter 1166: Grand Shaman Priest
And just like that, Mo Hua took command of the second-grade Black-Horn Prefecture, simultaneously scouring the barbarian tribes for children to whom he could once again preach the Dao and impart knowledge;
While also forging barbarian armor to strengthen the tribal barbarian cultivators and sending them out to conquer in all directions;
Whenever he had spare time, he would stealthily act on the list Elder Zhamu had gathered, hunting barbarian gods in secret, devouring their divine will to further enhance his spiritual sense.
His days passed in busy yet fulfilling fashion—so much so that Mo Hua had no time to concern himself with anything else.
Naturally, the pace of outward conquests slowed significantly.
The Black-Horn Mountain Prefecture was twice the size of the Wutu Mountain Prefecture.
It held more than twenty tribes of various sizes, and many of them weren't weak.
With Mo Hua stepping back into the shadows and ceasing direct involvement, leaving the fighting to Wusha and the others, the process inevitably became far more arduous and sluggish.
But this was a necessary stage.
As a "Shaman", Mo Hua couldn't always be on the front lines, nor could he always act personally, leaving behind too many traces and flaws.
Wusha and the others needed to be able to take the lead on their own, becoming sharp "blades and swords" that could carry out conquest on his behalf.
Naturally, that required a process of adjustment and growth.
This process would inevitably be accompanied by casualties among the tribal barbarian cultivators, various setbacks, and failures, all costing considerable time.
Yet it was indispensable.
Without this phase—without this tempering—his forces could not take shape, nor could they develop real combat power.
At the very least, within a second-grade prefecture, they needed the ability to act independently, to conquer and pacify smaller tribes.
Among the Three Thousand Great Wildernesses, the majority were second-grade mountain prefectures, and these also contained the largest number of small tribes.
Mo Hua was still only one person—he couldn't be everywhere at once.
He also had far more important things to do—preaching the Dao, cultivating his divine sense, and striving to form a Golden Core. He couldn't waste time using a broadsword to kill chickens—personally pacifying each and every minor tribe.
Thus, enabling Wusha and the others to independently wage war and bring mountain prefectures under control became extremely important.
This could save Mo Hua a great deal of time.
It was just that during the initial phase, the pace of conquest would inevitably slow down.
And this phase lasted half a year.
It took a full six months before Wusha, leading the Wutu Tribe, the Black-Horn Tribe, the Wotai Tribe, and other allied barbarian cultivators, finally conquered and pacified the entire second-grade Black-Horn Mountain Prefecture.
Strictly speaking, six months was already a short amount of time.
But Mo Hua still felt it was dragging.
His "ambition" was far too great—at this pace, conquering all of the Three Thousand Great Wildernesses would take a full millennium.
After all, the wilderness wasn't made up only of small mountain prefectures—there were many large ones and large tribes as well.
These were the truly tough "bones" to chew—mountain-sized obstacles that could easily be deemed insurmountable.
After unifying the Wutu and Black-Horn Mountain Prefectures, Mo Hua faced a pressing dilemma:
Should he attempt to conquer a third-grade prefecture?
Roughly two thousand li to the southwest of the Black-Horn Mountain Prefecture was one such third-grade barbarian mountain prefecture.
Mo Hua took some time to scout it out, concealing his presence as he investigated the territory. But upon his return, he decisively abandoned the idea.
It was simply not feasible.
That southwestern third-grade prefecture was far too vast—by rough estimation, it was at least ten times the size of the Black-Horn Prefecture.
And this prefecture didn't even have a unified name.
Because within it, nearly ten third-grade tribes ruled over their own territories.
Even more shockingly, every one of these tribes had a late-Stage Golden Core barbarian cultivator overseeing them.
Mo Hua was genuinely startled.
This wasn't a normal third-grade prefecture—it was a "strong third-grade" prefecture.
If it were just a small third-grade one, with only one or two third-grade tribes and cultivators around early Golden Core, Mo Hua might still have had some ideas.
But against a powerful third-grade prefecture like this, it was a true behemoth—its strength overwhelming, entirely untouchable.
With the tiny slice of land and power he currently controlled, entering such a place would mean certain death—his forces would be wiped out in an instant.
Even without attempting to take the whole prefecture—just selecting any one of the large third-grade tribes from within—it would be more than enough to completely overwhelm Mo Hua's allied barbarian forces.
After all, he didn't even have a single Golden Core cultivator under his command.
TN: Karmic Curse will be translated as Fate-Bane Seal onwards.
Even if he risked backlash from his Fate-Bane Seal (Karmic Curse) and personally fought, unleashing the Great Void God-Slaying Sword, he could only kill Golden Core cultivators whose divine sense had under twenty-two spirit patterns.
Against mid-stage or late-stage Golden Core cultivators, without the collapse of a large-scale formation to aid him, he had no chance of victory.
So third-grade prefectures were out of the question.
That meant he could only continue expanding into the surrounding second-grade mountain prefectures—
And continue accumulating strength.
After deliberation, Mo Hua summoned Wusha.
Inside the central command tent, Wusha paid his respects and knelt on one knee, declaring fanatically, "Lord Shaman is wise."
They had now taken both the Wutu and Black-Horn Mountain Prefectures—two complete second-grade prefectures.
This was something Wusha had never even dared dream of in his entire life.
According to barbarian tradition and history, to conquer and pacify a mountain prefecture through tribal strength would normally take decades, even centuries.
In fact, most tribes and most barbarian cultivators could spend their entire lives without achieving such a feat.
Now, under "Lord Shaman's" guidance, they had done it in just six months. If that wasn't a "miracle," what was?
Of course, the only regret was that, as the tribe chieftain leading the charge, he was not the master of the prefecture.
The true ruler of both the Wutu and Black-Horn Prefectures… was Lord Shaman.
Such vast territory, so many tribesmen, and true power—all were held in Mo Hua's hands.
As Wusha gazed at Mo Hua, a trace of greed unconsciously flickered in his eyes.
Naturally, Mo Hua did not miss this look.
He let out a soft sigh in his heart.
Just as he'd expected—barbarian nature was difficult to change. Especially for someone like Wusha—clever, greedy, bloodthirsty, and a tribe chieftain.
Wusha might indeed feel some measure of "loyalty" to him.
But deep in his heart, greed still ran deep.
The loyalty was genuine—but so too was the greed, deeply ingrained.
Wusha likely couldn't even suppress these thoughts himself.
In front of Mo Hua, he might show "loyalty."
But when the time was wrong, he could just as easily be driven by greed to turn traitor.
Such was the nature of most adult barbarian cultivators.
Which meant—they must not be allowed to rest.
Since they were "wolves," they had to be driven—constantly pushed to conquer.
Mo Hua's expression became imposing as he slowly commanded:
"In seven days, you will lead the Wutu Tribe, the Black-Horn Tribe, as well as the recently subdued Hejin and Qilian Tribes, and continue westward—to conquer the third mountain prefecture."
Wusha froze slightly, but then cupped his hands and said, "As you command."
Though inwardly resentful of the endless campaigns, he dared not voice any dissatisfaction.
Mo Hua could already guess what was on his mind, so he continued: "I plan to name this mountain prefecture after you—'Wusha Prefecture.'"
Wusha froze, and his whole body trembled slightly. "Wusha Prefecture…"
Mo Hua nodded.
"That's right. If you conquer it, it will bear your name."
"Not only for you—from now on, any mountain prefecture that is conquered may be named after your offspring, or the members of your tribe."
"This is the highest honor, and a reward from the Divine Lord for your service and sacrifice."
Wusha was so moved that he began to tremble all over. In that instant, all his earlier selfish thoughts were reduced to ashes.
His heart was left only with the most fervent loyalty toward "Lord Shaman."
He dropped to his knees and swore:
"Wusha will bravely fight and conquer vast lands for Lord Shaman!"
Mo Hua said solemnly:
"Not for me, but for the Divine Lord."
Wusha replied at once:
"Yes! All is for the Divine Lord!"
Then Wusha departed to resume the conquests on Mo Hua's behalf.
And for a long time thereafter, anything Mo Hua said, Wusha treated as absolute command—an iron decree to be obeyed without question.
This included:
No killing of captives.
No mistreatment of barbarian slaves.
No looting of defeated tribes once a campaign ended.
No defiling of barbarian women, and so on.
Wusha carried out all these orders with utmost diligence, and the expansion campaigns went smoothly.
Aside from Wusha, there was another who earned Mo Hua's favor and promotion.
This man, tall and sturdy, was named Jiao Li, a warrior from the Black-Horn Tribe—and the illegitimate son of Elder Jiao Hu.
Wusha was fierce and bloodthirsty, while Jiao Li was steady and composed.
Together, one attacking and the other defending, they served as Mo Hua's blades in conquering tribes and pacifying mountain prefectures.
This was Mo Hua's arrangement for external affairs.
Internally, governance of conquered tribes—maintaining livelihood, organizing production—was also overseen by Mo Hua.
The actual implementation was handled by the Wutu Tribe, Black-Horn Tribe, and several other tribes with knowledgeable elders familiar with shamanic arts.
External warfare was merely a means.
Internal governance was the foundation.
Only by properly managing the tribes could the livelihood of barbarian cultivators improve.
Only then could Mo Hua establish a stable foundation in the Great Wilderness and achieve the outcome he desired.
This was not something that could be done overnight. Along the way, many conflicts and challenges arose.
Mo Hua constantly pondered, solved problems, and accumulated experience—learning how to support cultivators at the grassroots level and improve the populace's well-being in a land of scarce resources.
It was tedious and unglamorous work—but deeply meaningful.
Thanks to his efforts, most of the barbarian tribes were able to survive even in years of war and famine.
They could now eat meat.
Millet and grain were planted around the tribes, so even if they couldn't hunt spirit beasts, their livelihoods were secure.
Barbarian children began to receive foundational education in cultivation.
And this education had been personally "refined" by Mo Hua.
The Great Wilderness lacked spirit stones, and its cultivation lineages were wild and primitive—closely tied to beasts and demons.
Often, it was hard to tell whether a tradition was orthodox cultivation or demonic cultivation.
So Mo Hua gathered all the lineages from various tribes, sorted through them, and deleted anything that clearly led toward demonic cultivation or risked deviation and qi deviation.
He then merged their local lineages with elements of the orthodox cultivation arts of the Great Void Sect.
His goal: to create a system that was simple, comprehensible, practical, and resource-efficient.
To the greatest extent possible, he ensured that the largest number of children could establish a cultivation foundation at the appropriate age—
And do so on a righteous path, without risk of deviation.
Thanks to this, many barbarian tribes and their children experienced a complete change in fate, opening doors to new possibilities.
Over time, Mo Hua's name earned unparalleled prestige in the Great Wilderness.
To the likes of Wusha and the other warlords, Mo Hua the Shaman represented the Divine Lord's majesty and held the unquestionable authority of reward and punishment.
And within the tribes, the ordinary barbarian cultivators—those with food to eat and clothes to wear—held deep gratitude and sincere reverence for Mo Hua.
Many barbarian children, educated by Mo Hua himself, saw this kind and godlike Shaman with hearts full of admiration and longing.
...
And so time passed—Two more years slipped by.
Wusha and Jiao Li had gone on to conquer five more second-grade mountain prefectures.
All these mountain realms were brought under Mo Hua's "sphere of influence," and under his subtle guidance, they underwent a complete transformation.
Mo Hua himself had gained quite a lot as well.
He had roughly confirmed that the "principle" behind his pursuit of the Dao was viable, and in the process, he accumulated a wealth of experience.
To impart the Dao, teach, and guide the young children of the barbarian tribes in cultivation, Mo Hua gathered nearly all of the tribal cultivation legacies and written records from seven entire barbaric mountain realms under his influence.
He then organized, compiled, and documented them.
These cultivation tomes were a significant treasure trove.
Thanks to this, Mo Hua developed a deeper understanding of the Great Wilderness's history and cultivation system.
He also managed to restore three sets of barbarian armor crafting techniques.
Besides the Black-Horn Barbarian Armor, there were now also the Redflame Barbarian Armor, the Nightwalker Barbarian Armor, and the Greenvine Barbarian Armor.
These three sets had all been improved by Swordbone and arranged for forging by Elder Jiao Hu, and were already being put to use by allied barbarian cultivators.
Clad in barbarian armor, with strict discipline and swift action—
Now, the barbarian cultivators under Mo Hua's command were beginning to take on the true image of the Great Wilderness's "barbarian warriors."
Aside from armor-forging, Mo Hua unexpectedly stumbled upon some ancient tomes concerning divination arts using demon bones.
Most were fragmented and damaged. Among the low-level tribes, there were hardly any barbarian cultivators who could use these divination techniques, so preservation had been poor.
But to Mo Hua, even these broken scrolls were incredibly precious.
What he lacked wasn't an understanding of the "Dao of Causality," but the concrete means to perform "causality-based techniques."
All he needed were some fragments of these texts to spark his thoughts.
With his formidable divine sense, absurd computational power, and exceptional comprehension, Mo Hua was able to reconstruct and complete the methods of divination himself.
Causality techniques were of great importance.
Over the past two years, much of Mo Hua's free time was spent studying these broken wilderness divination scrolls.
He used his divine sense and computing ability to piece them back together, improve upon them, derive new techniques, and reflect upon their meanings.
And through these scattered, broken wilderness scrolls across various barbarian tribes, Mo Hua's mastery of causality techniques gradually accumulated and deepened imperceptibly.
While researching these ancient, obscure, and incomplete barbarian divination tomes, Mo Hua also unexpectedly discovered some Great Wilderness Ancient Script.
These archaic characters seemed to have been passed down by the ancestors of some barbarian tribe—more fragmented, disjointed, and vague in meaning.
But among them, one phrase made Mo Hua's heart tremble:
"Grand Shaman Priest…" (大巫祝)
Mo Hua's thoughts churned restlessly.
According to the Second Elder, the twelve-meridian Gluttonous Spirit Bone Grand Array, a second-rank formation with twenty-four runes, was said to have been created by a brilliant and peerless Grand Shaman Priest of the barbarian lands.
But Mo Hua didn't know if the Grand Shaman Priest mentioned in these causality scrolls was the same person as the one the Second Elder spoke of—the creator of the Gluttonous Spirit Bone Array.
"If it is the same person, then this Grand Shaman Priest is not only a master of formations, but also of the Dao of Causality?"
Mo Hua pondered this and found it plausible.
After all, to attain the title of Grand Shaman Priest, one's abilities must be extraordinary—Proficient in formations, divination, and fortune-telling—it would only be natural…
Just like himself.
But the question was: Were these two "Grand Shaman Priests" truly the same person?
And in the entire history of the Great Wilderness, how many Grand Shaman Priests had there been?
These were the kinds of questions Mo Hua couldn't just ask directly.
After all, he was a "Shaman Priest" now—he couldn't go around asking such "low-level" questions.
But his curiosity got the better of him, so he went to Elder Zhamu, and using the clever excuse of "I'm testing you," he gently steered the conversation in that direction.
What he learned surprised Mo Hua greatly.
Elder Zhamu didn't even know there was such a title as "Grand Shaman Priest."
According to him, among the barbarian tribes, there were only "High Shamans" (上巫)—that is, higher-ranking Shaman Priests.
There had never been anything like a Grand Shaman Priest.
Mo Hua didn't believe it, so he asked a few other people as well—under the guise of a similar "test."
Yet not a single barbarian cultivator ever mentioned the term "Grand Shaman Priest."
It was as if these three words had been erased from the history of the Great Wilderness.
Not just the person—the title itself had seemingly ceased to exist.
Mo Hua frowned, feeling a strange and indescribable sense of unease.
There was even a faint, inexplicable chill that crept over his heart.
But the clues regarding the Grand Shaman Priest ended there.
Mo Hua wanted to investigate further—but had no way to proceed.
At the same time, a very real and present problem lay before him:
Should he attack a third-rank mountain realm?
If yes—how?
Even though he had now unified seven second-rank minor mountain realms, and his forces were vastly expanded, with a solid base of support among low-tier barbarian cultivators…
That still didn't mean he truly had the strength to challenge a powerful third-rank realm.
The gap between second-rank and third-rank was enormous.
Not to mention, some of those third-rank realms had late-stage Golden Core cultivators stationed as guardians.
But if he didn't attack—his power base could no longer grow.
The seven surrounding minor realms had all been conquered. There was no room left to expand outward.
And once Wusha, Jiao Li, and the other war-hardened barbarian cultivators stopped fighting, trouble would inevitably arise.
Their loyalty wasn't that pure.
Even if they didn't dare rebel against him, their Shaman Priest, they would surely begin fighting among themselves.
Whether he chose to be conservative or expansionist—there were problems on both sides.
This weighed heavily on Mo Hua's mind. He thought about it for a long time, but couldn't come up with a good solution.
Since he happened to be free, Mo Hua took a trip to the back mountains of the Wutu Mountain Realm—to visit the Big Tiger.
…
The Big Tiger was living a very comfortable life these days.
Mo Hua had carved out a large stretch of mountainous territory, strictly off-limits to barbarian cultivators, just for the Big Tiger to roam freely.
It had food, water, and spent its days in the forests summoning wind and rain, showing off its might—it was absolutely thriving.
Its body had grown even more robust, and its fur had become even thicker and more vibrant. The whites were whiter, the blacks blacker. It looked both majestic and beautiful.
Naturally, the Big Tiger's happiest moments were always when Mo Hua came to visit—and grilled meat for it.
Mo Hua stroked the tiger's fur, and couldn't help but think—Maybe he should forge a set of armor for the Big Tiger, so it could fight alongside him when they attacked a third-rank mountain realm?
But looking at the joyful Big Tiger, Mo Hua shook his head.
No…
At least not yet.
The Big Tiger's cultivation was at the peak of the second rank.
While it was a powerful beast—and even a king among monsters—with enough strength to battle Golden Core cultivators, that didn't mean it could actually slay one.
Even if it could, it would surely be gravely injured—or might not even survive.
That wasn't something Mo Hua wanted to see.
What's more, if they truly launched an assault on a third-rank realm, there would be more than just one or two Golden Core enemies to face.
And with the Big Tiger's unique identity, once it appeared, it would certainly draw the attention—and contention—of other barbarian tribes.
The end result could very well be a major disaster.
Mo Hua rubbed the soft white fur on the Big Tiger's neck, sighed, and muttered:
"Forget it… you're too valuable. You can't be revealed just yet."
The Big Tiger, not understanding a thing, shook its big head, then extended a fluffy paw and scratched at the ground's Blazing Fire Array—clearly signaling: Hurry up and grill meat. I'm starving.
Mo Hua was a little helpless.
"This dumb tiger… really has gained a spirit…"
All he could do was ignite the Blazing Fire Array and resume grilling meat for the Big Tiger.
After finishing the meal and feeding the tiger, Mo Hua returned to the tribe.
He mulled things over for a long time—and ultimately decided he still needed to find a way to break into the barbarian lands' third-rank mountain realms.
Even though it was extremely difficult—and seemed almost impossible—he still had to try.
Moreover, the major tribes in third-rank realms had long histories.
They were bound to possess more tomes on causality and far more complete ancient records.
They might even house a third-rank Barbarian God.
If so, he might gain access to more abundant Divine Sense, learn more advanced Causality Techniques, and perhaps even uncover…
More of the forbidden secrets…
(End of this Chapter)