Chapter 101: Foundation Establishment Level Five

When Elder Yu entered, his expression was grim; when he left, his face had noticeably brightened, and Mo Shan could even see a faint smile on his lips.

In all the time Mo Shan had known Elder Yu, he had always thought of him as irritable, stern-faced, and quick-tempered—he had never seen him look like this before.

"Mo Shan, you've raised an excellent son!"

Elder Yu had, for the first time ever, praised Mo Shan.

Mo Shan was startled, almost overwhelmed—he had never once been praised by Elder Yu, no matter how well he mastered Daoist arts or how many beastlings he slew; he had assumed Elder Yu was simply too strict to ever compliment anyone.

Now, this sudden praise caught him off guard, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

After speaking, Elder Yu ignored Mo Shan entirely, nodded to Liu Ruhua, and walked straight out the door.

Mo Shan and Liu Ruhua respectfully saw Elder Yu off to the doorway.

Night had fallen; the bright moon hung high, the streets held few shadows, but warm yellow lights glimmered in the windows on either side, occasionally punctuated by laughter, children's shouts, and parental scoldings.

After walking a few steps, Elder Yu turned back to glance at Mo Hua's door, silently thinking: "Among our wandering cultivators, perhaps one truly capable of becoming an Array Master will emerge…"

Among the hundred arts of cultivation, array techniques reign supreme—whether for clothing, food, shelter, or battling beastlings, no cultivator can do without them. But array techniques have never been meant for lowly wandering cultivators like us—we're poor, we don't deserve them…

If Mo Hua truly masters array techniques and remains true to his heart, aiding wandering cultivators—even if he remains forever at Foundation Establishment, to the wandering cultivators of Xiancheng, he would be far more useful than I, a Foundation Establishment cultivator who's already half-dead…

An Array Master—Elder Yu's eyes filled with hope.

"I wonder if I'll even live to see that day…"

The next day, Elder Yu sent twenty sets of vine armor, twenty bottles of Golden Spirit Ink, fifty Spirit Stones, and two bottles each of the Five Element Spirit Inks, with the remaining vine armors to be delivered after completion.

The fifty Spirit Stones were a down payment; the rest would be paid only after all paintings were finished. The Five Element Spirit Inks were specially obtained by Elder Yu for Mo Hua, an extra reward—and their quality was excellent; Mo Hua was delighted.

These Spirit Stones and Spirit Inks would last Mo Hua a long time.

Though the Beast Hunting Festival was still three months away, Mo Hua didn't want to wait—he planned to finish within a month and a half, painting two or three sets daily during his spare time, without neglecting his cultivation or learning higher-level array techniques.

Mo Hua was also waiting to reach Foundation Establishment Level Five so he could learn a spell.

Half a month later, Mo Hua completed the thirty-sixth Iron Armor Array, and as he prepared to continue, he suddenly sensed an anomaly in his Qi Sea.

Mo Hua's eyes lit up; he immediately sat in meditation, took out a Spirit Stone, and began absorbing spiritual energy.

After an unknown length of time, his Qi Sea trembled, his spiritual energy grew chaotic, then gradually stabilized—and became slightly deeper.

Foundation Establishment Level Five!

Mo Hua was pleased—after all, realm was the foundation of a cultivator.

It seemed that the Great Expansion Scripture, aside from the mysterious arrays blocking breakthroughs at major and intermediate realms, posed little obstacle to minor realm advancements, and required no celestial or terrestrial treasures.

Mo Hua suddenly felt boundless, endless reverence for the elder cultivator who had created this scripture!

"If I keep cultivating like this, could I truly become an immortal?"

Mo Hua's thoughts began to drift.

Then he remembered the enormous quantity of Spirit Stones needed for cultivation, the complex arrays in the array texts that made his scalp tingle, and the mysterious, unknown Mystery Arrays.

Mo Hua quickly quelled his daydreams.

"Cultivation must be grounded—do not reach for the stars! Cultivation must be grounded—do not reach for the stars!"

Mo Hua silently repeated this twice, then began planning for his Foundation Establishment Level Five stage.

First, he must learn spells!

Could a cultivator who didn't learn spells truly be called a cultivator?

Body cultivators were one thing—but as a cultivator who aspired to—and could only be—a spiritual cultivator, how could he survive without learning a few spells?

But who could he ask?

Mo Hua was troubled—most Beast Hunters were body cultivators; spiritual cultivators were rare.

If body cultivators faced danger when hunting beastlings due to their heavy focus on physical cultivation, spiritual cultivators entering the mountains to hunt beastlings were essentially gambling that their lives were strong enough to survive.

The difference between spiritual and body cultivators in beast hunting was immense.

If a spiritual cultivator was attacked by a beastling, compared to a body cultivator: if the body cultivator was unharmed, the spiritual cultivator was lightly wounded; if the body cultivator was lightly wounded, the spiritual cultivator was severely wounded; if the body cultivator was severely wounded, the spiritual cultivator was dead; if the body cultivator died, the spiritual cultivator would barely be left with a complete corpse…

Hence, there were few spiritual cultivators among Beast Hunters—not only because few chose to become them, but because even fewer survived.

Unless one had no other choice—like Mo Hua.

If he were strong and robust, he would become a body cultivator, commissioning Master Chen to forge a great saber engraved with a green dragon, charging into beast herds and slaughtering left and right—just imagining it made his blood boil.

But this idea's only flaw was that it could only be imagined.

What about asking Mr. Zhuang?

Mo Hua shook his head—Mr. Zhuang teaching him array techniques was already more than enough; asking him for spell instruction would be pushing his luck.

Besides, Mr. Zhuang's appearance was utterly inscrutable—his vital energy seemed weak, his spiritual energy nonexistent, his spiritual sense drifting and vague—he looked exactly like an unfathomable master.

If Mo Hua went to beg Mr. Zhuang for help and angered him, and he stopped teaching array techniques altogether, it would be trading a sesame seed for a watermelon—huge loss.

What about asking Snow Auntie? She had always been kind to Mo Hua.

Oh right—Snow Auntie practiced illusion arts; with Mo Hua's talent, he wasn't even worthy to learn them, let alone master them.

After much thought, only one person could help Mo Hua…

Mo Hua found a book titled "Foundation Establishment Spell Record," which listed basic Foundation Establishment spells—though only the table of contents, no cultivation methods.

Mo Hua had deliberately enlarged the characters "Spell" on the cover, so anyone could spot them at a glance.

Early in the morning, Mo Hua sat in the eatery, holding "Foundation Establishment Spell Record," ready to fish. As the sun rose and the weather cleared, the fish would come.

Zhang Lan appeared by the street, bathed in the morning sun, stretched lazily, then strolled leisurely toward the eatery.

Mo Hua ignored him, pretending to be absorbed in his book.

Zhang Lan entered the eatery, sat in his usual seat, ordered a pot of wine, a plate of meat, and a plate of fruit, then idly glanced around—his gaze landed on Mo Hua, and immediately on the book in his hands, and the large "Spell" characters on the cover.

Zhang Lan carefully confirmed it again—the cover clearly read "Foundation Establishment Spell Record."

He reread the words "Spell" and "Foundation Establishment" several times, and suddenly felt triumphant.

Last time, Mo Hua's book "Beginner's Guide to Complex Arrays" nearly cost him his reputation—he still shuddered at the memory. But as long as it wasn't array-related, and especially not Complex Arrays, Zhang Lan felt no fear.

What's more, it was "Qi Refining," and it was "spells"!

Within these two domains, no one could stop him from showing off!

Zhang Lan deliberately cleared his throat, cleared his voice, staggered up to Mo Hua, and said with feigned casualness: "Oh? What book are you reading? Is there anything you don't understand? Want me to teach you?"

The fifth watch has ended.