Chapter 144: The Threshold

Mo Hua chatted a while longer with Young Master An, then Zhang Lan found him and said she was taking her leave, asking if Mo Hua would go too.

Mo Hua bid farewell to Young Master An, who seemed reluctant; Mo Hua told him to spend his free time thinking about what he truly wanted to do.

In the end, one can only rely on oneself.

Young Master An nodded solemnly.

Mo Hua and the others left the An household, but Zhang Lan and Sister Situ did not return home; instead, they followed Mo Hua all the way to his family's eatery, spent spirit stones to buy plenty of meat and wine, saying they would take it back to eat.

Their behavior left Mo Hua thoroughly baffled.

They spent spirit stones to treat Mo Hua to spirit dishes, didn't eat them themselves, then came to Mo Hua's house and spent more spirit stones to buy meat to eat!

Mo Hua didn't know what to say.

But they had plenty of spirit stones—let them be.

Zhang Lan disliked spirit dishes; Sister Situ had tasted the beef Mo Hua brought from the mountains before and had been craving it ever since.

Each bought several jin of demon meat, then took their leave from Mo Hua.

Mo Hua remembered he still had spirit dishes from the Spirit Dish Tower in his storage bag.

Chicken, duck, fish, meat—plenty of it.

Mo Hua taught the spirit dishes to his mother.

Liu Ruhua gave some to Aunt Meng, Jiang Yi, and other neighbors, kept some for herself, then remade them that night and had Mo Hua taste them.

Mo Hua ate them, nodded, and finally felt the flavor was right.

In the following days, Mo Hua trained as usual, practicing array diagrams.

One morning, while meditating, Mo Hua suddenly felt his meridians tremble.

Mo Hua immediately pulled out more spirit stones and calmly absorbed them to cultivate.

After an unknown length of time, his cultivation broke through.

Mo Hua's emotions were complex and hard to put into words.

Striving desperately to break through yielded no result; yet when he cultivated without distraction, he broke through naturally.

Indeed, the Dao is a matter of gradual accumulation, flowing naturally to its course.

But at last, he had reached Qi Refinement sixth layer!

Mo Hua's spirits lifted.

He felt his spiritual sense had strengthened further; the invisible restraints limiting its growth had quietly dissolved.

Mo Hua threw back the covers—his bedside was lined with storage bags, each filled with jade vials, each vial brimming with demon blood!

Dense and countless—over a thousand vials!

Mo Hua intended to use these thousand-plus vials of demon blood to comprehend nine array lines and cross the threshold to become a first-grade array master!

Mo Hua opened the "Thousand Array Records" and found one array.

First-grade Golden Armor Array!

This was the first array Mo Hua would learn that contained nine array lines.

Mo Hua had long memorized the array lines perfectly, but previously lacked sufficient spiritual sense to draw them.

Now that he had reached Qi Refinement sixth layer and his spiritual sense had grown significantly, he could attempt drawing a nine-line array.

Mo Hua calmed his mind, spread out paper, prepared spirit ink, dipped his brush, and began drawing the First-grade Golden Armor Array.

The first eight array lines flowed effortlessly; no obstacles arose. But as soon as he began the ninth line, he faintly felt his spiritual sense beginning to falter.

"No way…"

Mo Hua stared blankly; by the time his spiritual sense was nearly exhausted, he had only completed eight and a half lines.

"Why so far off?"

Mo Hua put down his brush, propped his chin, and began to think.

Logically, his realm had advanced—his spiritual sense should have increased substantially too—so why could he still draw only half a line more than before?

He had assumed he might not draw all nine lines at once, but could at least sketch them roughly, then practice a few times until he got it right.

Now it seemed it wasn't that simple.

Mo Hua frowned, sat in meditation, used his contemplation technique to restore his spiritual sense, then tried again several times—with little success.

In the afternoon, he went to the Bamboo Dwelling to find Mr. Zhuang.

Mr. Zhuang looked at Mo Hua with a complex expression and asked: "How many array lines did you draw?"

"Nine."

"And your cultivation level?"

"Sixth layer…"

Mo Hua didn't understand why Mr. Zhuang was asking this.

Mr. Zhuang sighed inwardly: "Why would a breakthrough from Qi Refinement fifth to sixth layer bridge the spiritual sense gap between eight and nine array lines?"

"Isn't it just one realm apart?"

"The gap from Qi Refinement ninth layer to Foundation Establishment is also just one realm."

Mo Hua smiled awkwardly.

Mr. Zhuang patiently explained: "Within each major realm, the later you are, the slower your cultivation and spiritual sense grow—and the wider the gap between stages becomes."

"So the gap between eight and nine array lines is greater than before?" Mo Hua asked.

Mr. Zhuang nodded: "Generally speaking, nine array lines are already the limit of a first-grade array master."

"A single breath to complete nine array lines demands extreme precision in brushwork, perfect memory of the array diagram, deep understanding of the array core, and exceptional strength and control of spiritual sense…"

"From eight to nine array lines, it seems like just one final step—but the gap is enormous. Some array masters linger here their entire lives, one step away from entering the grade, yet that one step may forever remain beyond reach."

Mr. Zhuang spoke with deep feeling.

Mo Hua was a little nervous. Surely he wouldn't have to spend his whole life trying to cross this threshold.

Mr. Zhuang saw through Mo Hua's thoughts, tapped his forehead, and said, "How old are you? What's the rush? Go home with peace of mind, draw more, practice more, and that's all."

Since Mr. Zhuang said so, Mo Hua felt reassured.

He just needed to keep drawing formation arrays. Sometimes the most foolish method was the best method.

Mo Hua nodded.

After Mo Hua took his leave, a breeze stirred in the bamboo room. Old Kui appeared behind Mr. Zhuang and asked with some curiosity:

"How long will this threshold take him?"

Mr. Zhuang said, "At the very least three or four days, at most half a month."

Old Kui fell silent, and finally could not help but say, "And you call that a threshold?"

Ten days to half a month — where was the threshold in that? It couldn't even count as a stumbling stone…

Mr. Zhuang said lightly, "His realm broke through and loosened the shackles on his divine sense, so the limit on his divine sense's growth has been widened. Right now his divine sense is still insufficient. In another ten days or so, once he practices formation arrays and his divine sense strengthens, these nine formation lines won't be difficult."

Old Kui was speechless.

Mr. Zhuang raised an eyebrow. "Nine formation lines — for other cultivators, it really is a threshold. But this child Mo Hua has practiced far too many formation arrays. For him, this threshold is really nothing at all."

Old Kui said displeasedly, "Then why did you spout all that nonsense just now?"

Mr. Zhuang's expression turned playful, and he smiled faintly:

"I was just teasing him, so he wouldn't get cocky."

After Mo Hua returned home, he earnestly followed Mr. Zhuang's advice, steadied his mind, and practiced formation arrays with peace of heart.

After practicing for a while, he truly felt his divine sense strengthening, and he could draw a few more strokes of the Jin Jiazhen's formation lines.

Mo Hua's spirit lifted. Greatly encouraged, he kept drawing.

Just like that, his divine sense grew a little each day, and each day he drew a few more formation lines.

Ten days later, Mo Hua naturally drew out the Jin Jiazhen. It felt like a melon ripening and falling from the vine, like water flowing into its channel.

But Mo Hua furrowed his brow.

It didn't seem as difficult as Mr. Zhuang had said.

Wasn't there supposed to be a threshold between eight formation lines and nine formation lines? Where was the threshold?

Mo Hua carefully recalled, but still couldn't remember where the threshold was supposed to be.

"What's going on?"

Mo Hua was a little puzzled, and his brow furrowed even tighter.

Where was the promised threshold…