The Quest for Immortality - Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Chapter 10: Drawing Arrays

The next morning, after breakfast, Mo Hua put down his chopsticks and returned to his room. He took out paper and ink for tracing, and while the memory of the Blazing Fire Array was still clear, he began to meticulously trace it.

He used the cheapest ordinary ink and paper, which lacked spiritual energy. The arrays drawn were merely patterns without any effect, thus consuming minimal spiritual sense and without the worry of wasting spirit stones due to failure.

Relying on his memory, Mo Hua completed the tracing of the array in one go, pausing only slightly due to the minimal spiritual sense used.

He took out the original diagram of the Blazing Fire Array and carefully compared it to his tracing, identifying three mistakes.

Setting aside the array paper, he took out another sheet and continued drawing. After three attempts, he finally traced a perfect Blazing Fire Array without any errors.

Mo Hua let out a long sigh of relief, stretched lazily, glanced at the small sundial on the table, and realized it was noon, which was when he finally felt hungry.

Liu Ruhua had already prepared a meal with rice made from spiritual rice and several simple stir-fried vegetables; the only meat dish was a demonic chicken egg. The spiritual rice was of lower quality but sufficient to satisfy hunger.

The meal was simple yet delicious, and Mo Hua relished it before running back to his room to continue practicing the Blazing Fire Array.

Liu Ruhua, watching Mo Hua's retreating figure, expressed her concern:

"This child is working too hard; he has gotten much thinner."

Mo Shan nodded, "It's good to be diligent, but I worry he'll overexert himself. Hua was born frail and with a weak constitution."

Liu Ruhua sighed, "It's a pity he didn’t inherit your physical talents, instead he's frail and sickly like me..."

Mo Shan gently embraced her slender shoulders, "How can you blame yourself? When Hua was born weak, we consulted Master Feng from Apricot Clinic. He said that a balance between spiritual sense and physical body is normal at birth. Hua was born with strong spiritual sense, which made his body weaker. Look how clever and good-looking Hua is now, that’s thanks to you."

Liu Ruhua couldn’t help but smile, "Only you would say that."

Seeing his wife's mood lighten, Mo Shan added, "This morning, I spoke with Old Zhou from the demon hunting team. A few days ago, they accidentally killed a fire chick. It’s not a demonic beast, but its meat contains spiritual energy. I bought some for Hua to try; it’s also good for your health."

"Do we have enough spirit stones at home?" Liu Ruhua asked.

"No need," Mo Shan replied, "We’re all brothers who have hunted demonic beasts together; it's the same if I pay him back after the New Year."

Liu Ruhua placed her storage pouch in Mo Shan's hand, "Give whatever you can; we can repay the rest after the New Year. Everyone needs to earn some spirit stones for the New Year."

Mo Shan thought for a moment and agreed, "That sounds good."

While Mo Shan and his wife chatted, Mo Hua continued drawing the Blazing Fire Array into the evening until he was quite proficient.

After a quick dinner, Mo Hua eagerly returned to his room, held his breath to calm his spirit for a moment, and then went to sleep on time, entering the sea of consciousness.

In the ancient, empty sea of consciousness, an old stone stele stood prominently.

Using his finger as a brush, Mo Hua began formally drawing the array on the stele. As the array patterns on the stele became complete, his spiritual sense poured forth.

When his spiritual sense was nearly depleted, and he was almost unable to sustain himself, he finally completed the Blazing Fire Array.

Mo Hua stopped, and the array on the stele emitted a gentle white light.

The Blazing Fire Array was an array that third-tier Qi-cultivators could draw. Mo Hua, only a second-tier Qi-cultivator, managed it, but just barely, indicating that his spiritual sense was on par with third-tier cultivators.

Mo Hua felt a small sense of pride, then erased the Blazing Fire Array he had drawn, and his spiritual sense was immediately replenished.

He continued to draw the Blazing Fire Array, utilizing the night to fully master the array patterns, planning to formally draw the array the next day.

In the silent and empty sea of consciousness, Mo Hua repeatedly drew the Blazing Fire Array, reflecting on and summarizing the various problems encountered.

Unknowingly, dawn broke, and Mo Hua involuntarily exited his sea of consciousness.

Feeling not the slightest fatigue, he immediately got up, sat on the bed to cultivate for a while, and after breakfast,

 he washed his hands and solemnly took out the array materials given by the steward.

The materials included ten array papers and ten small bottles of light red ink. The array paper was made from demonic beast skin and bits of spiritual herbs, while the ink was a mix of fire-element demonic beast blood and spirit liquid. Unlike the ink and paper Mo Hua used for tracing, these contained spiritual energy and were consequently much more expensive.

The steward had also included a new but crudely made brush, which was hardly better than Mo Hua’s usual one, so he continued using his own, which felt more comfortable.

Mo Hua spread an array paper on the table and carefully poured the ink into the inkstone, which helped preserve the ink’s spiritual power for longer.

With the array patterns of the Blazing Fire Array fresh in his mind, Mo Hua began to formally draw the array.

The process went smoother than expected; it felt just like drawing the array on the stone stele in the sea of consciousness, even the rate of spiritual sense consumption was the same.

However, due to nerves, some strokes were slightly crooked. Although it didn’t affect the array's function, the drawn array looked somewhat unappealing.

After much effort and consumption of spiritual sense, Mo Hua finally completed the Blazing Fire Array, unfortunately making one mistake.

He hadn't succeeded yet but had already lost a spirit stone...

Mo Hua felt a pang of regret.

And with his spiritual sense depleted, he could no longer continue drawing arrays and had to rest with closed eyes.

"I wonder if there's a way to quickly recover spiritual sense..."

Mo Hua thought, missing the days of practicing on the Dao Stele, but unfortunately, that wasn't an option in reality.

Mo Hua rested, and before his spiritual sense fully recovered, the morning had already passed, and Liu Ruhua was calling him for lunch.

After a quick lunch, Mo Hua ran back to his room and spread out a new array paper.

Stabilizing his emotions and summarizing his experiences, he silently recited "Failure is the mother of success," and began drawing the second Blazing Fire Array.

This time, Mo Hua was more focused and careful, pondering each stroke and preemptively considering the subsequent array patterns. As his spiritual sense was used up, he closed his eyes to rest, constantly recalling the array diagram in his mind.

Mo Hua drew slowly, but time flew by. By dusk, although with some interruptions, he had finally successfully drawn the Blazing Fire Array.

Unable to hide his excitement, and overtaken by the fatigue of his exhausted mind, Mo Hua contentedly collapsed on his bed and soon fell soundly asleep.

When Mo Hua woke up, it was already dark, and feeling famished, he followed a delicious aroma into the main hall, only to see a large bowl of meat on the table!

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