The Quest for Immortality - Chapter 155 (Patreon)

Chapter 155: Spirit Stones

Elder Yu initially thought that the Golden Armor Array would be slightly stronger than the Iron Armor Array, but he never expected it to be this much stronger—it was directly at the first grade...

When he had previously asked Mo Hua to draw the array, wasn't he only drawing six-path array patterns?

How long has it been, and now he can already draw a first-grade array?!

Elder Yu hesitated for a long while before asking a rather pointless question:

"Is it really a first-grade array…"

Mo Hua thought Elder Yu was acting a bit strange, so he took out a just-completed Metal-Based Array and counted for Elder Yu to see:

"One, two, three… nine, right? A total of nine array patterns."

Elder Yu hadn't looked carefully at the Metal-Based Array before. At this moment, he didn't dare to blink and counted again, one by one.

It was indeed nine array patterns, and nine patterns make it first grade!

Elder Yu's hand holding the rattan armor trembled slightly, unable to believe it.

"Then doesn't that make you… a first-grade array master?"

A first-grade array master!

How many years has it been? For them, these wandering cultivators and poor demon hunters, they didn't even have an ordinary array master.

And now, there was a first-grade array master!

Mo Hua felt a bit embarrassed and humbly said, "I can only draw a first-grade array. It doesn't count. I need to pass the Dao Court's grading to officially become a first-grade array master."

Elder Yu sighed with relief, "So that's how it is, just able to draw a first-grade array..."

Elder Yu pondered again: just able to draw a first-grade array… only?

Is being able to draw a first-grade array something that can be called "only"?

Elder Yu's expression was complex.

Mo Hua is so young, already able to draw a first-grade array. What about the future?

Second grade? Or… third grade?

It took Elder Yu a long time to calm down. He pretended to be calm and praised Mo Hua a few times, encouraging him to continue drawing arrays. Then he gathered Yu Chengyi, Mo Shan, and a few other ninth-level Qi cultivator demon hunters together.

"This child, Mo Hua, must not encounter any danger!"

Everyone exchanged glances. Yu Chengyi said, "Father, we understand. We will watch over him."

"No, you don't understand."

Elder Yu shook his head and said, "Mo Hua is now drawing first-grade arrays!"

Yu Chengyi and Mo Shan were shocked.

Yu Chengyi looked at Mo Shan and couldn't help but say:

"It's one thing for us to be shocked, but as his father, why are you also surprised?"

Mo Shan was helpless, "I just found out too…"

Yu Chengyi didn't know what to say.

"I only knew he helped me draw the array…" Mo Shan said.

"You didn't ask?"

"It was a gift from my son. I was just happy and forgot to ask."

Elder Yu said, "This matter must not be known to the Qian family. You all need to inform the other demon hunters to keep the array matter strictly confidential."

Everyone nodded, though their hearts were still turbulent and unable to calm down.

Focused on drawing arrays, Mo Hua suddenly felt that someone had been silently watching him recently.

Mo Hua frowned, released his spiritual sense, and then shouted through the wall:

"Uncle Yu."

Yu Chengyi immediately poked his head out from behind the wall, "What's wrong?"

Mo Hua couldn't help but say, "Uncle Yu, why are you watching me?"

Yu Chengyi was stunned, "How did you know?"

He had hidden behind the wall very well and even concealed his aura.

"A sweep of my spiritual sense and I knew…"

Yu Chengyi was surprised, "You could even detect that?"

Mo Hua nodded.

Yu Chengyi's eyebrows twitched, and he couldn't help but think, your spiritual sense is a bit over the top…

But considering that Mo Hua could draw a first-grade array, having a strong spiritual sense was reasonable.

"I'm afraid you'll encounter danger, so I'm keeping an eye on you." Yu Chengyi said.

Mo Hua looked around, puzzled, "What danger could there be here?"

This is a mine, surrounded by familiar demon hunters.

Yu Chengyi coughed, "Just in case."

Mo Hua said, "Uncle Yu, you should go and get busy. Aren't you dealing with the Qian family? There must be a lot to do."

If there's really nothing to do, go dig some spirit mines or something… why watch me…

Yu Chengyi thought silently: Nothing is more important than you. If we lose some spirit mines, my father would only be heartbroken for a decade. If we lose you, he might want to kill me…

"No worries, you draw your arrays, just pretend I'm not here."

How could you pretend a living person isn't here…

Mo Hua's eyes lit up, "Uncle Yu, if you have nothing to do, take me to see the spirit mine inside."

Since entering the mine, he had been drawing arrays and hadn't seen what the spirit mine looked like.

"You're not drawing arrays anymore?"

"I'll take a break and draw later."

Yu Chengyi thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright, I'll take you to see."

Mo Hua was instantly invigorated.

Yu Chengyi led Mo Hua towards the depths of the mine.

The further they went, the more humid it became. The smell of earth and stone grew stronger, and the spiritual energy became denser, almost congealed, showing a faint blue hue.

The mine was filled with the continuous "ding-ding" sounds.

This was the sound of pickaxes mining spirit stones.

Spirit stones in the spirit mine are fused with the mountain rocks. To extract the spirit stones, body cultivators must use pickaxes to chisel them out bit by bit.

The mined stones are raw ores, irregular in shape, some containing other impurities like mountain rock, generally unsuitable for direct use, and cannot be directly refined by cultivators.

These raw ores can be traded with the Dao Court Office, exchanged at a certain ratio for purified, standardized spirit stones.

These standardized spirit stones are what cultivators use for daily cultivation and transactions.

The raw ores, on the other hand, are processed and refined uniformly by the Dao Court.

Refining spirit mines into spirit stones is a special branch of artifact crafting, involving complex and intricate procedures. According to Dao Law, only the Dao Court is qualified to refine spirit stones.

Any other families, sects, or individual cultivators are not allowed to refine them privately.

Violators will be held accountable by the Dao Court Office, and serious offenders will be treated as rebels and suppressed or even exterminated by the Dao Court!

As they walked, Yu Chengyi explained the knowledge related to spirit mines to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua listened, suddenly enlightened, realizing that the Dao Court's control over spirit stones was very strict.

For spirit mines occupied by families and sects, the Dao Court couldn't interfere, so they could only monitor and balance major forces by controlling the final refining process of spirit stones.

Spirit stones are the lifeblood of cultivators. Controlling spirit stones means controlling the entire cultivation world.

Mo Hua asked again, "Can we cultivate directly here, given the dense spiritual energy?"

"No," Yu Chengyi said, "the spiritual energy here looks dense but is impure. It contains moisture, fishy smell, various accumulated mixed and foul energies. Direct cultivation could cause problems."

Mo Hua didn't quite understand, "What are moisture, fishy smell, mixed energy, and foul energy?"

Yu Chengyi was stumped, thinking Mo Hua had so many tricky questions…

He could only do his best to recall and explain according to his understanding:

"Energy is akin to a primal force in cultivation. Spiritual energy is the purest form of energy close to this primal force, absorbable by cultivators without harm. Cultivators' spiritual power comes from refining spiritual energy."

"Apart from that, there are various other energies in the cultivation world, generally mixed, evil, or foul. If a cultivator refines or is invaded by such energies, it can cause various problems in blood energy, Qi sea, or meridians."

"More specifics, I'm not very sure. But you must be careful in the future, avoid absorbing any energy other than spiritual energy, or you might get into trouble."

"Understood." Mo Hua nodded repeatedly, silently noting it in his heart.

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