Chapter 105

When he truly began to study it, Mo Hua realized that the Flowing Water Step wasn't as difficult as he'd thought.

The difficulty of the Flowing Water Step lies in using spiritual awareness to control spiritual energy, and using spiritual energy to guide the body. The stronger the spiritual awareness's control over spiritual energy, the more agile the spiritual energy's manipulation of the body.

The Heavenly Evolution Scripture, according to Mr. Zhuang, does not enhance spiritual energy or strengthen the Five Elements, but excels in amplifying spiritual awareness's control.

And Mo Hua, being a formation master who draws arrays daily, already had superior control over spiritual awareness compared to ordinary cultivators. After practicing the Heavenly Evolution Scripture, it was like adding wings to a tiger—controlling spiritual energy and activating his movement technique was no longer difficult.

Previously, he found it hard mostly because his innate physique was weak, making movement easily unbalanced, so his movement technique couldn't be fully unleashed.

For ordinary cultivators, even if their bodies aren't strong, they're still sufficient for training movement techniques. The real difficulty lies in precisely controlling spiritual energy, ensuring it flows accurately through the limbs' meridians and acupoints.

For Mo Hua, the hardest part was his weak physique—yet moving spiritual energy through meridians and acupoints was actually effortless.

Moreover, Mo Hua's spiritual energy flow was even more meticulous than what the Flowing Water Step's manual required. In complex movement techniques, he could even execute even more intricate variations.

In just over ten days, Mo Hua had nearly mastered the movements of the Flowing Water Step.

But merely learning the movements wasn't enough; Mo Hua felt he still needed real combat practice.

One day, Mo Hua went to the foot of the mountain outside Xiancheng and found a large tree with deep roots and dense foliage.

The tree was laden with wild fruits—small, sour and astringent, too unpleasant to eat, which was why so many remained, nearly filling the entire tree.

Mo Hua kicked the tree, but it didn't budge an inch; instead, his foot went numb.

Helpless, Mo Hua drew a simple Earth Tremor Array and buried it beneath the tree.

The Earth Tremor Array is a basic earth-element array, containing few array patterns and easy to draw; when activated with spiritual energy, it generates vibrations.

Mo Hua infused some spiritual energy to activate the array. The Earth Tremor Array flashed a dull gray-gold light, then began to vibrate, causing the tree to shake and wild fruits to fall in abundance.

The falling wild fruits struck Mo Hua, who stood beneath the tree.

Mo Hua perked up and activated the Flowing Water Step to dodge the falling fruits.

Ten or so fruits fell; Mo Hua dodged eight or nine, getting hit twice—one on the shoulder, another on the head.

Mo Hua clutched his small head and hissed through his teeth.

He'd miscalculated—he hadn't expected being hit to hurt this much.

Mo Hua glanced at the towering tree, then walked off in annoyance. About an hour later, he returned, wearing a small helmet, striding back with renewed determination.

He had just gone to see Master Chen.

This small helmet was specially forged for him by Master Chen—light, simple, useless against cultivator attacks, but more than sufficient to block a few falling wild fruits.

Fearless, Mo Hua activated the Earth Tremor Array again and began dodging falling fruits with the Flowing Water Step.

At first, Mo Hua focused entirely and wasn't hit often; later, though his spiritual awareness remained clear, his limbs grew weary, his movements less agile, and his spiritual energy gradually weakened—so he got hit more often.

As dusk fell, Mo Hua patted the tree and said, "I'll come back tomorrow," then headed home.

Back home, Liu Ruhu wiped medicine on Mo Hua while worrying, "Where did you go playing? Your body is all bruised and swollen…"

"It's nothing, Mom, it doesn't hurt."

Liu Ruhu pressed harder while applying the medicine, and Mo Hua yelped in pain.

Liu Ruhu huffed, "You said it doesn't hurt?" Then, feeling sorry, she softened her touch.

Mo Hua said, "It's all superficial injuries, no big deal."

"You didn't get into a fight, did you?"

"Don't worry, Mom—I'm practicing my movement technique. That way, if danger comes, I can run away…"

"Really?" Liu Ruhu asked.

"Mm." Mo Hua nodded.

Liu Ruhu sighed in relief, "Good. But be careful yourself."

Mo Hua declared, "Mom, don't worry—I'm just learning. Soon, even if it rains from the sky, not a single drop will wet my sleeves…"

Liu Ruhu laughed and shook her head, unable to resist pinching Mo Hua's nose, "You've got quite the confidence!"

The next day, Mo Hua's "injuries" hadn't healed; his shoulders and back were still swollen and bruised, and every movement sent pain through his body. Though his Flowing Water Step had grown more refined, his performance wasn't better than the first day.

On the third day, Mo Hua's pain eased slightly, his step improved further, and fewer wild fruits managed to hit him.

Every day after that, Mo Hua trained his movement technique beneath the tree. As the wild fruits on the tree dwindled, his Flowing Water Step improved bit by bit.

By the time Mo Hua's Flowing Water Step became somewhat proficient, few wild fruits remained on the tree.

Before Mo Hua stood the towering tree, silently standing. A few sparse, unripe wild fruits hung alone on the once-thick branches.

It looked rather desolate…

Mo Hua felt guilty, so he drew a Water-Wood Array and buried it at the tree's roots.

The Water-Wood Array stores moisture and nourishes spiritual trees, aiding the growth of plants and trees—it was Mo Hua's apology.

With the nourishment of the Water-Wood Array, the tree's leaves seemed greener.

Mo Hua's Flowing Water Step had become fairly proficient, but how well it would hold up in real combat was still uncertain.

After all, falling fruits follow predictable paths, while in actual combat, an opponent's fists, feet, and spells might not follow any fixed trajectory.

He really needed to find someone to spar with.

But who?

Seeing Mo Shan was going into the mountains to hunt demons, and his cultivation level and combat experience far surpassed Mo Hua's—he wasn't suitable. Brother Da Hu and the others, since becoming demon hunters, frequently entered Great Heishan—sometimes gone for three to five days, sometimes up to half a month. Even when they returned, they were swamped with tasks, so he couldn't trouble them.

Chen Dazhu and the others were also busy every day learning alchemy from Master Chen.

What about Zhang Lan?

Mo Hua thought about it, then shook his head. Though Zhang Lan seemed idle, he was still Gu Diansi of Dao Ting Si—he couldn't possibly be truly idle every day. Besides, Mo Hua had learned movement technique from him; asking him to train again would be too shameless.

Mo Hua couldn't think of a suitable partner.

A few days later, Mo Hua brought wine and food to Mr. Zhuang, asked a few questions, then took his leave.

As he walked beneath the large locust tree, he saw Bai Zi Xi quietly reading, serene and graceful, delicate white locust blossoms gently falling upon her.

Beside her, Bai Zixi lay on his back, a book covering his face, looking utterly bored and lifeless, occasionally rolling over—his posture utterly unseemly.

Mo Hua sighed.

Bai Zisheng heard the sound and immediately sat up, his eyes gleaming as he looked at Mo Hua.